NHL Trade Bait: Rickard Rakell climbs the TSN Board, Nick Foligno makes the list, Tony DeAngelo and Sam Bennet plummet
Anthony Scultore
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TSN has updated their trade bait board, and there’s been some drastic changes since its initial release. On March 1, Frank Seravalli’s top 5 looked like this:
- Mattias Ekholm, NSH
- David Savard, CBJ
- Tony DeAngelo, NYR
- Brandon Montour, BUF
- Taylor Hall, BUF
Today it has some new names and plenty of movement.
Rickard Rakell climbs TSN’s Trade Bait Board
TSN’s new top five has two new names that have come up in the NHL Rumors mill this past week.
- Mattias Ekholm, NSH
- David Savard, CBJ
- Rickard Rakell, ANA
- Taylor Hall, BUF
- Nick Foligno, CBJ
Rickard Rakell is a 27 year-old forward on a bad Ducks team. He is being used as a wing but can play center. His cap hit is $3.789 million and he has one year remaining on his contract. This means he’s not a rental and a very intriguing player available on the market.
It sounds like the Ducks may try and rebuild and Rakell may no longer fit into their plans. While he’s struggling, along with the rest of Anaheim this season Rakell can put up points.
Ad for what it would take to land him, according to two GM’s Seravalli spoke with the price is very high.
NHL Rumors: Tony DeAngelo and Sam Bennett drop
Tony DeAngelo debuted at #3 and has dropped all the way down to #15. It appears that interest has cooled significantly since he was waived. At this point the Rangers are going to be fine with holding onto to DeAngelo and exposing him to the expansion draft and if not selected buy him out at 1/3 the cost.
As for Sam Bennett, he debuted at #9 on the list and falls now to #18. I am expecting that to continue as he has a new lease on life in Calgary with Darryl Sutter.
“For me, personally, I think I can take it as a fresh start. I’m excited,” Bennett told the media today. “It’s really kind of like a reset and I can start to try to find a role again. I’ve talked with Darryl a couple times now. We’ve had some really good conversations just about what he wants from me and what he expects. So I’m definitely looking forward to starting fresh here and proving my worth again. I’m definitely excited, for sure.”
Nick Foligno is now on the board
This weekend Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun mentioned he heard Nick Foligno connected with the Maple Leafs. It was a bit surprising at first, but here we are.
Foligno is a UFA this summer and I can understand trading him might make some sense. The captain of the Blue Jackets makes $5.5 million AAV and also has trade protection, so it will be on his terms. He loves Columbus and being the Captain of the team.
There certainly is a scenario where I can see the Jackets trading his rights to acquire players like Alex Kerfoot and then resigning him in free agency. So while this one feels like it’s out of left field, it’s one to monitor.
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