BLH provides you with the latest NHL news, rumors, and speculation featuring Elias Pettersson (VAN), Jaden Schwartz (STL), Elvis Merzlikins (CBJ), and more!
This is not the kind of news Edmonton Oilers fans will like.
*NEW* What’s the plan for Edmonton’s defense after this season? Check that out here!
*NEW* Are the Edmonton Oilers poised to make a tough trade before next year? Maybe…
NHL Rumors and Speculation
James Mirtle (The Athletic): (mailbag) It’s too early to say what the Toronto Maple Leafs goaltending situation is going to look like next season. Jack Campbell is under contract and will be back, but it’s not known if he’ll be a starter or in a tandem role. Unless Frederik Andersen goes off on a playoff run, he’s not coming back. David Rittich hasn’t played much for the Leafs and hasn’t been overly impressive in the games he’s played.
Jeremy Rutherford and Shayna Goldman (The Athletic): The St. Loius Blues and pending UFA forward Jaden Schwartz appear to be good with playing the season out. The flat salary and 29-year olds inconsistencies will make things interesting.
- “I don’t want to get into specifics,” Armstrong said after the trade deadline. “But Jaden is a player who we talked about earlier that is a primary player for us that we’d like to keep here. Nothing has changed since then, or until the day that we hopefully get him signed.”
Patrick Johnston (The Province): Wonders if the Vancouver Canucks might have something to worry about when it comes to forward Elias Pettersson. Johnston wonders if a rival club will consider an attempt to sign Pettersson to an offer sheet this offseason. Specifically, he looks at the Seattle Kraken and an organization that has all sorts of salary cap room to make a splash heading into their inaugural season.
- “But if you’re Seattle, you really should think about it. Throw a huge offer, one that, given the Canucks’ cap constraints, would make it very hard to match. Heck, if you’re Montreal, maybe you should think about it too. The Habs do have cap space and Marc Bergevin and Pat Brisson do have a long standing relationship.Bergevin did Brisson, one of his oldest friends, a big favour two years ago in offer sheeting Sebastian Aho. Maybe he’d do it again?”
Anthony Scultore (The Daily Goal Horn): Says the Philadelphia Flyers will target a shutdown defenseman this off-season.
- “The Flyers have a lot of work to do in order to upgrade their defense. Philadelphia was abysmal in their own zone this season and Carter Hart suffered the most for it. GM Chuck Fletcher was looking at either Matthias Ekholm or Ryan Ellis via trade this season, but the Predators price was too high. That may change this summer, but I think the Flyers will try to improve in free agency.”
The Fourth Period: Questions whether or not the Detroit Red Wings will bring back head coach Jeff Blashill once his contract expires this summer.
- “It’s unclear if the Red Wings and Blashill have had any recent contract discussions or if they’ll table those conversations for after their season concludes. There is plenty of speculation surrounding the Wings’ desires to bring in a new voice as coach…”
- “With a number of changes expected to take place in Columbus this off-season, one move the club could make to help bolster other areas of the team is trading one of their goaltenders.”
- “In addition to his need for more scoring, Kekalainen plans on acquiring a top centre this off-season and may use his salary cap space to his advantage – the Blue Jackets have just over $25.8 million in salary cap space with pending restricted free agents Patrik Laine and Alexandre Texier among those in need of new contracts.”
- “Moving one of the team’s two goaltenders could help strengthen the club up front, as teams like the Toronto Maple Leafs, Edmonton Oilers, Chicago Blackhawks, Carolina Hurricanes, Buffalo Sabres and Boston Bruins have poked around on both Korpisalo and Merzlikins.”
BLH’s Thoughts: The Oilers have been in talks to acquire one of Columbus’ goalies since before last off-season. The sense I’m getting from my sources is that if the team can find a new home for Mikko Koskinen and his $4.5M contract, they’ll make a move for one of Columbus’ netminders.
But that’s not set it stone.
Consider how well the tandem of Mike Smith and Koskinen have played this year. If I’m not mistaken, Edmonton’s a top-5 team with regards to save percentage and it might make even more sense just to run this pairing again next season because they’ve got actual depth in Bakersfield now with the addition of Ilya Konovalov.
In addition to that, we know that Ken Holland isn’t an “ageist”. Time after time in Detroit he brought in players who were thought to be at the end of their careers but squeezed out another season or two with the Red Wings in order to help bring home a championship. Who’s to say that Holland doesn’t re-visit that tactic once again in Edmonton with Smith given how well he’s playing?
In the event that they do make a deal with Columbus and if Caleb Jones isn’t lost to Seattle in the expansion draft, would it not make sense to unite the Jones brothers in Ohio?
Sources: nhlrumors.com, nhltradetalk.com, thedailygoalhorn.com,
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