NHL Rumors: Oilers may target Rangers for a trade, Seth Jones talking extension with Columbus, and next season’s format
Anthony Scultore
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Will the Oilers target the Rangers for a trade this summer? You can expect several teams to be very active this offseason in the NHL rumors department. The Rangers are at the top of the list along with the Sabres and Kings will be in the news a lot so be ready for it. Seth Jones is also engaged with Columbus on an extension, and more in our latest daily rumors update.
Oilers may target Rangers for a trade
Allan Mitchell at The Athletic thinks the Oilers may target the Rangers as an offseason trade partner. In particular, he has three potential players in mind to address some of Edmonton’s needs.
- Filip Chytil
- Julien Gauthier
- Alexandar Georgiev
Starting with Chytil, there’s some thought that he could fit on the left side with Connor McDavid and provide cost control since he’s a RFA without arbitration rights. The potential trade piece on the Oilers side could be right-handed defenseman Ethan Bear. However, Mitchell is not taking into account the Blueshirts overloaded right side that will also include Nils Lundkvist next season and possibly Braden Schneider next season. Adam Fox and Jacob Trouba are both locks on the Rangers right side.
As for Georgiev, there really isn’t any reason to think the Rangers will be trading him and going with Keith Kinkaid as the backup next season. When it comes to Julien Gauthier, he may go unprotected and drafted by the Kraken.
My assessment is the Oilers don’t have what the Rangers are looking for in a trade. New York is looking for a top center to join Mika Zibinajad, which they will be looking elsewhere for.
Seth Jones talking extension with Blue Jackets
On a recent TSN Insider Trading, Pierre LeBrun pointed out comments from Seth Jones during his exit meetings about weighing his options. LeBrun stressed to Blue Jackets fans to not panic, but notes that Jones will be a free agent next summer. He also noted that the two sides were scheduled to meet soon and that is exactly what Chris Johnston reported last night.
“He’s had some talks in the last few days with his agent Pat Brisson from CAA Sports, he’s taking the weekend now to sort of mull it over and think things through, and I would expect somewhere here in the next few days he’ll get back to the Blue Jackets about where he’s at and whether he will entertain talks on an extension now.”
Sportsnet
NHL format for next season
One more quick note from Sportsnet’s Saturday Headlines. There was a lot of talk that the NHL may flirt with more divisional games and possibly the playoff format for wildcards. According to Johnston and Elliotte Friedman it looks like the league will return to the same divisions, schedule and playoff format pre-pandemic.