BLH provides you with the latest NHL news, rumors, and speculation featuring Tuuka Rask, TJ Oshie, Taylor Hall, Johnny Gaudreau, Jesse Puljujarvi, and more!
Watch 16yr Old Wayne Gretzky Destroy the Czechs at the ’78 World Juniors!
Watch Connor McDavid help Team Canada end a five-year WJHC gold medal drought right here!
Evan Bouchard has been recalled from his loan in Sweden, now he’s got to make the Oilers or his future could be cloudy. Read about that here.
Read what TSN’s Craig Button had to say about Carter Savoie, Dylan Holloway, and the 2020 World Juniors right here!
At the 2010 World Juniors, Jordan Eberle was a hero but it was all for naught in the Gold Medal Final… Watch the epic 6-5 battle with Team USA in its entirety right here.
Before we get to the links, I’d like to direct you to the tweet below. My hometown’s university hockey team needs help due to cutbacks and obviously financial pressures thanks to the pandemic, so they’ve set up a Go Fund Me to try and raise enough money to keep their program alive.
I can’t even begin to imagine how many hours I spent as a boy running around the Max McLean Arena in Camrose at Vikings games. It has to be in the hundreds as my dad took me to as many as we could get to and add in all the Viking Cup games. Without this hockey program, many people wouldn’t have been able to be introduced to the likes of Henrik Lundqvist, Dominik Hasek, Mike Comrie, Olli Jokinen, Mikko Koivu, PJ Axelsson, Dave Tippett, Fernando Pisani, Petr Klima, Sergei Zubov, Ziggy Palffy, Milan Hejduk, Andrei Markov, Henrik Zetterberg, Tuuka Rask, etc. before they became NHL superstars and that’s thanks to the Vikings and the fine people over the years that have worked tirelessly to keep things afloat.
If you have time, visit the Go Fund Me, and if you have an extra buck or two, help out. I know it’s not easy these days, but Camrose without the Vikings would leave a massive hole in the fabric of that town.
Yes, this is something near and dear to my heart…https://t.co/zpPI0i4rVn
The @UofA_AugVikings hockey teams need some help to make future seasons possible after provincial and university budget cutbacks. #GoVikingsGo #gofundme— Jess Jackson (@thewrongjess) December 17, 2020
NHL Rumors and Speculation
- Matt Larkin (The Hockey News): Has Jesse Puljujarvi on a list of ten players with the most to prove in the 2020-21 NHL season.
- “The Oilers need him to deliver on the promise that made him the No. 4 overall pick in 2016. There’s still time. Puljujarvi is just 22. Of the 188 rookie skaters to play in the NHL last season, 68.6 percent were older than him. But if he doesn’t show major progress after finishing fourth in the Liiga scoring race last season, the hope of him becoming an NHL star may fade away.”
- Justin Bourne (Sportsnet): Commenting on Larkin’s list from above, said he’ll be looking out for the following players from said list,
- Johnny Gaudreau (CGY) – “I feel like if he has another off year the Flames will move him”
- Taylor Hall (BUF) – “I’m not sure an NHL player has ever had a career like his and not gotten The Big Payday.”
- Matt Murray (OTT) – “Murray’s had some concerning numbers of late, but has proven he can be the guy in the past. Can he again?”
BLH’s Thoughts: Yessa most definitely has a lot to prove and I fear it might not come right away and the Edmonton media will feast on that. My hope is that Coach Tippett and GM Ken Holland will ignore that and give the big Finn a proper chance to show his worth. The logistics aren’t on Pulju’s side though with all the extra forwards Holland has accrued this off-season.
- Rory Boylen (Sportsnet): Transactions have been mostly stale for the past number of weeks, but now that we have more clarity on next season and what the financial picture is, we should get ready for the action to pick up again shortly.
BLH’s Thoughts: All of us Oilers fans are waiting to see which winger Ken Holland is going to move to bring in another defenceman…
- Byron Bader: On Edmonton Oilers prospect Evan Bouchard’s likelihood of becoming an NHL star,
- “As of his partial D3 (third year after his draft), Bouchard has the ninth highest star prob of the entire defensemen database (2,190 dmen in total). Seven out of eight directly above him are/were stars. Six out of eight directly below him are/were stars.”
BLH’s Thoughts: Below is Bader’s chart.
I’ve been saying for some time, those out there that are waiting for Bouchard to become a bit more assertive in the d-zone will be waiting until this guy retires and if the Oilers deal him because of that, they’ll be making a massive mistake. I figure Bouchard will be this generation’s Larry Murphy and he turned out okay, did he not?
👀👀 Evan Bouchard vs. Dougie Hamilton https://t.co/T3cVVJfBnL pic.twitter.com/nVr0MMcFP3
— Byron Bader (@ByronMBader) December 19, 2020
- Samantha Pell (Washington Post): Reckons the Washington Capitals will leave veteran TJ Oshie exposed to the Seattle Kraken for the upcoming expansion draft. Her protection list has the Caps protecting Lars Eller and Richard Panik over Oshie.
- “Protecting Panik over Oshie would be a controversial move to some.”
BLH’s Thoughts: A controversial move to some? How about to almost everyone?! I have to be glossing something over here. Why in the world, aside from some financial motivation, would you leave a veteran like TJ Oshie exposed for the expansion draft? Unless he wants out…
- Jim Parsons (NHL Trade Talk): Thinks Washington could go after a netminder at the trade deadline whose contract is expiring at season’s end to shore up the position. He names Tuuka Rask specifically.
- “If a team like the Boston Bruins struggle and there’s a potential feeling that Rask may not want to return next season, he could be a piece the Bruins decide to move. For the Capitals, his cap hit is too high to add him sooner than later, but if his deal is a prorated one that is added to the books at the trade deadline and if the Bruins retain salary in the move, taking something back in return, it’s a move that could work.”
BLH’s Thoughts: Rask might be a bit of stretch, but Carolina’s netminders are within reach, I think Arizona’s are as well, and I mean, if you’re really swinging for the fences; why not bring Braden Holtby back if Vancouver is struggling?
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