NHL Rumors: Golden Knights looking for PP specialist; Kraken will spend to cap; and Jets blockbuster?
Anthony Scultore
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The NHL Rumors will start seeing more of an uptick as the Stanley Cup Final nears its conclusion. We’ve already had one significant trade with the Kings acquiring Viktor Arvidsson. That deal was prompted by Predators GM David Poile when he learned the Seattle Kraken would take Arvidsson if left unprotected.
We can expect some similar deals to take place over before the opening bell of free agency on July 28.
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NHL Rumors: Golden Knights want to improve their power play
Vegas Golden Knights owner Bill Foley went on record after the season discussing the team’s offseason plans. “Obviously we really want to improve the power play. We’ve got to do better there,” he said via the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “That’s a problem we’ve had historically, really, is a power-play problem. I would guess you’re going to see a lot of work toward power-play improvement.”
One option that could work for the Golden Knights is Arizona’s Phil Kessel. The 33 year-old would be relatively inexpensive to acquire since he will be a UFA next summer. Should the Coyotes eat 50% of his cap hit, that would only be a charge of $3.4 million. If so, Vegas would easily part with the 29th pick in the first round for his services.
Kessel scored 13 of his 43 points on the power play this past season which includes four goals on the man-advantage. The Coyotes also just paid out his bonus, so he’s only owed $1 million in actual salary. Kessel is being shopped and has an 8 team no trade list, but I’m sure he would have no issue going to Vegas.
Seattle Kraken will spend to the cap
The newest NHL franchise is all in this season. Seattle Kraken CEO Tod Leiweke did a recent interview with The Athletic and touched on the team’s approach to spending.
Our GM has lots of options. What owners want is for our GM to build a long-term winner. He’s gotta figure out how to do that. If that strategy involves us going to cap in Year 1, he has the authority to do it. I think that is one of the reasons we are all optimistic. We have this fan base. We have this arena. We have the Kraken Community Iceplex and owners willing to give Ron resources. Our hope that is we are going to reward these fans, who have been incredible, with a competitive team for years to come.
Tod Leiweke
This should be exciting news for not only fans of the Kraken but the league in general. Gary Bettman and company must feel really good about their decision to expand to Seattle. The franchise appears to be off to a healthy start and should cause some serious excitement with offseason moves.
Jets’ Seth Jones blockbuster?
Before anyone gets too excited, Jets beat writer Mike McIntyre answered a question with regards to a Seth Jones trade. He wanted to qualify that unless Winnipeg knows he will sign long term there’s no deal to be had.
One name he brought up that was interesting is Kyle Connor. That indicates to me the Jets desire to add a top defenseman is still very strong. Especially since he believes Winnipeg would part with such a prized forward.