It is silly season in the NHL, with big names likely moving. Rumors today include Chicago trying to find a way to unload Seth Jones and his onerous salary. Rangers are desperately looking for a 2C without getting jammed up on the cap. Lots of goalie drama, with Colorado, Toronto, and Edmonton with really unsettled goal situations. Meanwhile, Tampa gets a cap get out of jail free with Ryan McDonagh's trade to Nashville. And after a long stay in Pittsburgh, it sounds like Malkin may be moving on.
Draft is Thursday, and it sounds like a weak class. I would love for the Rangers to get Matt Savoie, but no chance he is there when they pick. I hope they focus on centers, and get kids who have strong cycle games.
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Watching the situation with Malking and Letang in Pittsburgh very closely. Sounds like Letang is almost done but Malkin's situation is a little bit hairier.
I really think they need to get it done. Legacy and respect for what he's done aside, I don't think there's a realistic upgrade or even replacement for him out there. Trocheck is a name that gets thrown around, but I don't think he's equal to Malkin even at 35 post-surgery.
Trocheck is streaky as hell. He's good, but he's asking for a lot of money and probably more than he's really worth.
6 years for Letang is insanity at this point, but I'm sure he'll be LTIR'd by the end of that deal.
Malkin sounds very much like they are not anywhere near on the same page. I do think he might be severely disappointed if he's actually asking for $7m per year for 4 years.
I'd heard he was ok with about 6 mil a year but wanted longer term (3+ years) if that was going to be the case. Hextall says he's trying to move salary so they can make it happen but I'm a little skeptical at this point.
Yeah 6 years is a lot, but Crosby recently said that's how many more years he'd like to play as well. That core is definitely old, but without complete garbage goaltending the last two seasons they actually could've done some damage. So I'm all for them giving the can a few more kicks and then they can rebuild on the tail end of that contract.
Malkin sucks. Any contract that he signs will age poorly. Hextall is doing the right thing stopping at 3x6 (which is already generous).
Paying him for past accomplishments is how you end up in the basement for a long time.
He was a point per game player last year. He's not the dominant force he was 10 years ago, but who do they replace him with if they don't resign him?
Georgiev to Colorado means Kuemper to market. Good chance he ends up in DC. edit: Col signed him to 3 Yr, $3.4M per
Rangers Twitter very hot and cold on the idea of trading for Patrick Kane.
Lots of interesting moves on the table for the 13th.
I like what my Kings did trading a first + Faber for Fiala. Not too many 25-yo top players come available. And smh at Tampa. Every time it looks like the window is closing, they pull off another miracle to prop it back open.
Johnny Hockey aka Johnny Gaudreau is going to free agency. Turned down $80M from Calgary to go back east. Will it be NJD or PHI is the question.
Holtby looks like his career is over
Goalie carousel is spinning hard
Malkin going to Free Agency
Things are going to be interesting at noon tomorrow. That's for sure.
Malkin and Pittsburgh avoid the market late, 4 Years, $6.1M per year
E Kane and Edmonton avoid the market even later, 4 Year, $5.125M per year.
As a Flyers fan I hope he comes back home to play for us, but we've gotta clear cap to make it happen. Most logical would be trading JVR, but we'll more than likely have to give up picks to offload his contract. And after our GM got fleeced by Carolina in trading for Tony DeAngelo - who by all accounts is a scumbag - I have very little faith in the Flyers to get it done.
The Flyers have ACC-management-level minds in their front office. I do not know where the bottom is, but we haven't found it yet unfortunately
edit: and I wrote this BEFORE we whiffed on Johnny G. Willing to bet it's still true
Not to mention they bought out a fan favorite/cancer survivor who might still have upside so they could sign a goon to a 4 year deal...
Unless the Phlyers make a move like right now to dump JVR or Provorov (rumored to be on the block) it looks like NJD might be the destination and I'm not happy about that
I could see Konecny on the block as well, especially if they don't want to give up the high picks that are rumored to be needed to trade JVR.
He's also rumored to be on the block
What a freaking Free Agency:
Gaudreau to Columbus for 7x$9.8M, turning down better offers from Calgary and NJ
Trocheck to NYR to play 2C. 7x $5.625
Caps got Kuemper 5x$5.25 for starting goalie and Charlie Lindgren for backup 3x$1.1M
Kadri unsigned still is the biggest piece on the market.
TB extend Sergachev, Cirelli, and Cernak for 8 year deals each in deals that start in the future.
Canes traded for Brent Burns and Dylan Peterson for Steve Lorentz, Eetu Makiniemi and a conditional 3rd. On its own that's a good trade.
Then they trade for Max Pacioretty and Dylan Coghlan for literally nothing in return.
And then sign Ondrej Kase, who we originally tried to trade for in 2019 for Justin Faulk.
If healthy, that's a significant boost to what was already a very good team. Still have a couple things to sort out, but we still have about $5m in cap room with some contracts we could move out if needed.
Interested to see who the Canes hold onto out of Gardiner, Bear, and Necas.
I'm presuming Nino is out the door after yesterday's deals, but maybe Waddel will pull another rabbit out of his hat.
I think the only one I know for sure is Bear, and I think he's gone. Just probably isn't any room for him with Chatfield looking to play next year and Coghlin being acquired in the Pacioretty trade. And with Bear choosing arbitration instead of accepting the qualifying offer, he has to be gone.
Necas.... I wouldn't be surprised if we either trade or sign him. If he agrees to a prove it deal that moves him closer to UFA, he'll be back. If he wants to be paid, we'll trade his rights. He was so bad this year that he's just not going get a big dollar contract from us, and if that's what he wants, he's gotta go.
Gardiner. Went into the draft thinking he has to be traded. After yesterday, I'm starting to reconsider. If he is healthy, and that's a huge if, the following is a very good defense next year:
Slavin - Burns
Skjei - Pesce
Gardiner - Chatfield / Coghlan
Ideally, I think we'd probably like to move him and bring in a more defensively sound LHD to play alongside of either of the newbies, but there are worse options for a 2nd PP unit QB taking 3rd pair minutes. But moving him would likely mean needing to pay someone to take that contract off our hands, and given that it expires after the season, we'll probably see where he is, and if its just not working, LTIR him and see what the options are later.
Palat to the devils for 5x6