NHL Rumors: Taylor Hall open to trade, Kyle Palmieri likely to be moved, and Oilers set sights on right handed centers
Anthony Scultore
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The Sabres winless streak is at 16 games and there doesn’t appear to be and end in sight. It’s a tough time for the good fans in Buffalo to deal with and all they have left is the upcoming fire sale. Their top trade chip is now ready to go.
NHL Rumors: Taylor Hall ready for a trade
After getting shutout by the Penguins, Taylor Hall was asked about moving at the trade deadline. His response was direct and to the point, “Yeah, for sure.” After weeks of saying he’d be willing to extend with the Sabres it looks like Hall has resigned himself to being moved to a contender. He’s probably welcoming it.
From our Trade Bait Tracker, teams possibly interested in Hall are the Islanders, Maple Leafs, and Panthers. Expect more teams to be added to the mix in the newt week.
NHL Rumors: No movement on contract for Kyle Palmieri
On the latest edition of TSN’s Insider Trading, Pierre Lebrun provided an update on the contract talks between Kyle Palmieri and the NJ Devils.
And onto a prominent name from your trade board, Frank, and that’s Kyle Palmieri. Before we know he’s definitely getting dealt, we have to know that he’s not getting signed, he’s a pending UFA. The Devils have had talks recently with his camp and both sides I’m told struggling to find what is common ground on a contract in this flat cap environment and so much uncertainty of what contracts are going to look like moving forward. Things can change but all things being equal, more likely that Palmieri gets dealt before April 12.
TSN
Palmieri is in demand on the trade market with several teams rumored to be interested. The Islanders are said to be sniffing around as well as the Bruins, Leafs and Oilers. The Devils are also not in the playoff mix and are sure to be sellers. Keeping Palmieri would be helpful for the younger players but it is not necessary as they rebuild.
NHL Rumors: Oilers looking for a righty center
Also on TSN’s Insider Trading, Darren Dreger noted that the Oilers are looking to add a right handed center at the deadline. To be specific a face-off specialist and a penalty killer.
So who fits that bill? Well how about Luke Glendening who’s not coming back to the Detroit Red Wings. He’s the guy that leads the league in faceoff percentage this season, can also kill penalties and has a cheap cap hit. There’s two other guys that don’t require a seven-day quarantine and that would be Vancouver’s Brandon Sutter and Calgary’s Derek Ryan, although they have higher caps hits, more cap gymnastics there. And the price? Well the Oilers have traded their second, third and fifth-round picks so they’d like to do all that for a fourth-round pick if they can. We’ll see what kind of magic Ken Holland has up his sleeve.
TSN
Dreger noted three possibilities, but now that the Canadian quarantine has been reduced from 14 to 7 days I would set my sights solely on Glendening. If the main reason for the trade is winning draws, there’s none better than the Red Wings center at it.