NHL Rumors: Marc Bergevin at it again by signing Cole Caufield, Leafs not interested in goalies, Bobby Ryan waiting for trade, and Rangers to make more moves?
Anthony Scultore
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At this point Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin is just toying with the media. He said they had no cap space to make any moves a day before trading for Eric Staal. He followed that up with saying they were done doing anything else and last night signed Cole Caufield to his ELC.
NHL Rumors: Canadiens sign Caufield – what’s next?
The Habs signed their prized prospect Caufield to his ELC without any performance bonuses attached. Soon after the signing many believe that with less than $500K in cap space Bergevin will need to make some moves to free more up. When asked yesterday about that possibility, the Habs GM said quickly, “No.”
Do you believe him?
Here’s some notable quotes yesterday via The Athletic:
- “When I talked to you guys on Thursday, I was being upfront and honest. But again, I don’t think it’s in the best interests of the Montreal Canadiens to sit in front of a camera and lay out everything I’m trying to do. I think we’d be putting our team at a disadvantage because I know for a fact there were two other teams going after Eric Staal.”
- “But I also didn’t have anything in the mix when I talked to you. It happened honestly very fast. I did have conversations with Buffalo a while back and I know the 14 days (mandatory quarantine in Canada) became an issue, but then when that was lifted (and replaced by a seven-day quarantine) that made it a lot easier to make the trade.”
- “I know there’s teams that do have cap space that are willing to take on cap space, so if you want to buy cap space, that’s available… So, that’s out there, but again I’m not going to go into details about which teams are doing that or trying to do that, but that’s also a possibility.”
This is a very big year for the Canadiens and I believe for Bergevin’s job. If he can leverage the Blackhawks cap space for another big player, I expect him to do it. Stay tuned.
NHL Rumors: Bobby Ryan just waiting for a trade
One of our top rentals is Detroit Red Wings forward Bobby Ryan. We are tracking him on our NHL Trade Bait Tracker with possible destinations being Toronto, Vegas, Colorado, St. Louis, Boston, and Calgary. As far as Ryan’s concerned; he feels it’s inevitable.
“When things are going the way they are now it gets compounded and talked about a touch more,” Ryan said. “For me, not being a guy that’s too involved in reading the articles and stuff, it’s still making its way through. My wife is asking me about it. I hear it and understand what’s going on. This is the first time I’ve been through it where I think I’m probably more likely to be traded than not.”
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NHL Rumors: Toronto Maple Leafs not interested in goalies
On last night’s Saturday Headlines; Elliotte Friedman pointed out that the Toronto Maple Leafs are not in the market for a goalie. Currently Jack Campbell is undefeated as the starter and they expect Frederik’s Andersen injury to not be long term.
NHL Rumors: Rangers trade Brendan Lemieux – more moves coming?
The Rangers stunned some fans in New York with the unexpected trade of gritty forward Brendan Lemieux last night. As to why they did it, all you have to do is look at their roster and the current situation with the team.
- Carrying three goalies for fear that Keith Kinkaid will be claimed off waivers
- Players returning from COVID list (Brett Howden, Phil Di Giuseppe)
- The pending move of Vitali Kravtsov from Taxi to Roster (someone was going to have to go through waivers)
- Brendan Lemieux being lost for nothing in the expansion draft
Forever Blueshirts also learned that the Rangers will promote prized prospect Morgan Barron from the AHL to the roster later this season. With that under consideration, you can see that regardless of playoff standings the Blueshirts are likely to make more moves before the trade deadline.
Defenseman Brendan Smith has now been added to our NHL Trade Bait Tracker.