NHL Rumors: Interest grows in James van Riemsdyk, waiting on Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews
Anthony Scultore
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Today’s NHL Rumors begins with another big piece of the the board. When the Toronto Maple Leafs acquired Ryan O’Reilly and Noel Acciari from the St. Louis Blues on Friday night, it bumped up the stock of players like James van Riemsdyk.
The 33 year-old forward from Middletown New Jersey is starting to receive significant interest from contenders after also seeing Bo Horvat and Vladimir Tarasenko taken off the board weeks prior.
NHL Rumors: James van Riesmdyk
The Philadelphia Flyers are not going to make the playoffs in the Eastern Conference. That’s why moving pending UFA forward van Riemsdyk makes so much sense. This season, he’s registered 9 goals and 22 points in 36 games. For his career, he’s amassed 584 points in 915 contests.
“The Philadelphia Flyers have made him available,” Jeff Marek reported in December. “The actual cash here is $5 million as $1 million has already been paid as a bonus last summer. The cap hit is $7M but Philadelphia could eat some of that to make it more palatable for a team looking at van Riemsdyk.”
Per Elliotte Friedman, the teams most interested are the Golden Knights, Jets, Stars, and Wild.
If I had to put odds on which of those teams will land him, I’d go with Vegas. Prior to the injury to captain Mark Stone, they were in no position to go big game hunting. That’s all changed now and they want an elite winger for Jack Eichel.
Waiting on Kane and Toews
Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews will forever be remembered together. They were drafted a year apart, and won three Stanley Cups with the Chicago Blackhawks.
On July 9, 2015, they each inked identical extensions for 8 years with an AAV of $10.5 million. Once again, they are tied at the hip as everyone waits to see if this dynamic duo will each waive their full no-move clauses to play elsewhere by the NHL Trade Deadline on March 3.
According to Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic, a decision is expected next week between Tuesday and Thursday per their agent Pat Brisson.
Will these two aging stars waive their clauses or will they ride out the rest of the season in Chicago and see what lies in free agency?
Kane, 34, has 37 points in 51 games this season and drawing the most interest. It’s been speculated that he would only waive to go to the New York Rangers or Toronto Maple Leafs, but both teams have already made big moves.
Will Kane be willing to play for the Dallas Stars or maybe the Vegas Golden Knights? Is there a path for the Rangers with a third party to retain a total of 75% of his cap hit to make a deal work? Those are the big questions now.
Toews 34, has 28 points in 46 games but is currently on IR and is believe to be on the radar of the Boston Bruins, Colorado Avalanche, and Carolina Hurricanes.
The clock is ticking.
