NHL Rumors: Habs looking to trade forwards, and Sens sale has a caveat
Anthony Scultore
|
Today’s NHL Rumors sticks with the latest happenings surrounding the potential sale of the Ottawa Senators.
The process has officially begun and Ryan Reynolds of Marvel’s Deadpool franchise fame is seriously interested. The team issued a release today to confirm previous reports but also included a caveat.
However, we start in Montreal where the Canadiens and Washington Capitals were discussing a potential deal. That has cooled off, but latest rumblings say the Habs are aggressively looking to move one of their many forwards.
NHL Rumors: Habs looking to deal
Pierre LeBrun noted on TSN’s Insider Trading that Montreal has been calling teams looking to move a forward. Specific names mentioned were Evgenii Dadonov, Jonathan Drouin, and Mike Hoffman.
“The Habs have not only reached out, I’m told, to the Washington Capitals, they’ve reached out to several clubs around the NHL trying to create a trade market for their glut of forwards, whether that’s Evgenii Dadonov or Jonathan Drouin or Mike Hoffman and beyond. The Habs have too many guys up front, which is why there were some noteworthy healthy scratches every night with that team. So, we’ll see where that goes, but certainly Montreal is looking to make a move.”
Pierre Lebrun, TSN
Dadonov, 33, is in the final year of his contract with a $5M AAV. He has no points in 8 games this season and is currently on IR.
Drouin, 27, will be a UFA this summer and has a cap hit of $5.5M AAV. He has 2 assists in 8 contests.
Hoffman, 32, will be a little trickier to move with two years left at $4.5M AAV. The winger only has 1 goal and 1 assist through 9 games.
Another obvious candidate is Sean Monahan, who the Habs picked up in the Flames cap dump in order for them to sign Nazem Kadri.
Monahan, 28, has one year left at $6.375M. He’s the most productive forward of the lot with 6 points in 11 matches.
NHL Rumors: Senators sale caveat
The Ottawa Senators made it official on Friday with a press release indicating they have begun the process of selling the team.
Statement from Sheldon Plener, chairman and governor of the Ottawa Senators:
“Galatioto Sports Partners has been retained as financial advisor and a process has been initiated for the sale of the Ottawa Senators Hockey Club. This was a necessary and prudent step to connect with those deeply interested parties who can show us what their vision is for the future of the team. A condition of any sale will be that the team remains in Ottawa. The organization will have no further comment on this process at this time.”
Ottawa Senators
The Senators are also working towards an agreement for a new downtown arena at LeBreton Flats. Which makes sense that any sale should keep the team in Ottawa.
A recent article by Sportico valued the Senators at $655 million, but with a lease agreement secured the sale should reach $900 million or more.
