Today’s news and speculation from the NHL includes notes on the playing future of Tampa Bay Lightning captain Steven Stamkos, Bruins UFA defender Torey Krug, now-UFA forward Bobby Ryan, Hurricanes defender Brett Pesce, lots of Patrik Laine talk, and much more!
Hockey analytics is a scam organized by a bunch of nerds who saw "Moneyball" and thought they could be Brad Pitt. Their importance is severely overblown, and the cult around them is mostly clinically insane.
John Chayka's con job of the NHL is a great case study in mass insanity. https://t.co/gWoMelYfIS— Slava Malamud 🇺🇦🇮🇱 (@SlavaMalamud) September 27, 2020
The News and Rumors
- Jon Cooper (Lightning Head Coach): Steven Stamkos is out for the remainder of the postseason due to injury.
BLH’s Thoughts: The fact that the Lightning have accomplished what they have this season without Stamkos is a testiment to their outstanding depth. Maybe it’s time to start considering what the future would look like without Stammer? They need to open up some real cap room if they plan is to keep the band together, right?Â
- The Rear Admiral (Spittin’ Chiclets): The Boston Bruins will look to trade Torey Krug’s rights. The Florida Panthers, Colorado Avalanche, Vegas Golden Knights, and Detroit Red Wings are among the suitors.
BLH’s Thoughts: Interesting that Avs would be in on Krug as they have a youngster by the name of Bowen Byram coming along. As for the other teams, Krug’s looking for bank now and I feel like Detroit is really the only club that could offer him that out of that group of teams.Â
- Matt Teague (The Score): The Avalanche, Hurricanes, Blue Jackets, Devils, and Wild are all potential trade destinations for Jets forward Patrik Laine.
- Eric Duhatschek (The Athletic): The Blue Jackets woudl likely need to send either Zach Werenski or Seth Jones to Winnipeg if they wanted to acquire Patrik Laine.
- More Duhatschek: The Winnipeg Jets may prefer Brett Pesce rather than Dougie Hamilton if they were to move Laine to the Hurricanes.
- Pat Hickey (Montreal Gazette): The Canadiens could offer Max Domi, Brett Kulak, one of Cale Fleury or Noah Juulsen and the 16th overall pick in the 2020 draft for Patrik Laine.
BLH’s Thoughts: Winnipeg is still a good club and can still compete. They won’t be looking for futures in a Laine trade and I am still of the opinion that the Hurricanes are in the best position assets-wise to make a trade for Laine. That Habs proposal from Hickey is decent, mind you. Colorado’s window is only for next season, then they have to re-sign Makar and Landeskog. Add Laine into that and I can’t see that being a reality. Columbus isn’t offering their best players for the bigg Finn and Minnesota doesn’t have the forwards to offer.Â
- Craig Morgan (azcoyotesinsider.com): Coyotes d-man Oliver Ekman-Larsson and his camp are very open to a change of scenery this offseason.
BLH’s Thoughts: Things have cooled down on the OEL front. I wonder if this is either a trade that happens at the draft or sometime into next season.Â
- More Morgan: Coyotes d-man Alex Goligoski will not play for the Oilers, Flames, Jets, Canadiens, Senators, Sabres, Wings, or Kings.
BLH’s Thoughts: As long as he plays in a city where it’s got nice weather or plenty of things to do AND it’s not a losing franchise, he’s alright I guess. I’m shocked that the bubble in Edmonton didn’t convince him of all the nice things that Northern Alberta has to offer…Â
- Jimmy Murphy (Boston Hockey NOW): The Vancouver Canucks have recently asked abotu Bruins d-man Charlie McAvoy but he is believed to be “untouchable”.
- Jim Parsons (The Hockey Writers): Free agent forward Bobby Ryan could be a good short-term option for the Oilers this offseason.
BLH’s Thoughts: As if the Bruins are going to trade McAvoy… Now, as for Bobby Ryan, I agree with Parsons. He would be a stellar 3rd line winger for Edmonton. Ryan can still put the puck in the net and he shoots a ton.
I speak to a different line combo below but what about a 3rd line of Ryan-Haula-Puljujarvi? Pretty decent array of skills and experience and would be entertaining. What’s that price point look like though?
The Oilers Speculation
In Kurt Leavins’ latest 9 Things post there were a couple of things he said that I want to highlight in this space here.
The Oilers would love to get a full NHL season from a couple of ELC players like Benson and/or Evan Bouchard (who’s in Sweden). The ETA’s for both players to either sink or swim is nearly upon us. If they could, it would free up some much-needed cash (perhaps Matt Benning and Alex Chiasson’s contracts, or others) to spend elsewhere.
The part about both players needing to “sink or swim” because their window is closing is interesting to me in that I could definitely see that with Benson but not so much with Bouchard; and IF the Oilers (or those around the club) feel like it’s going to take a bit longer to develop him or that his ceiling isn’t as high as they once projected, are they entertaining the idea of using him in a trade to bring back an elite top-pair defender like, say, Aaron Ekblad for example.
Recently, Bob Stauffer (630CHED), has been saying that some are comparing Bouchard to Islanders defender Ryan Pulock and making it a point to drive home how long it took Pulock to get to the show and how it turned out for him…
Maybe Bob’s heard something and doesn’t like the idea of Edmonton moving Bouchard? Who knows.
Whether Andreas Athanasiou remains a member of the Edmonton Oilers depends a lot on Andreas Athanasiou. Acquired by Ken Holland at the trade deadline, the player never did get into a groove over the remainder of the regular season. And the post-season for the Oilers was so short and disappointing it didn’t help clear things up much more. But the player is a valuable asset, if only because of what Ken Holland had to spend to get him. As such, the club would love for Athanasiou to agree to a short-term deal with a “show-me” AAV. A 1-year, $2m contract. It would be good for both player and club. It would create vital cap space that Holland desperately needs in the short term. But it would also give the player (with a full summer for him to get into proper, peak physical condition) a chance to enhance his value on a team that features 2 of the best Centers in the world. Seems like a hell of an opportunity, no? Would the player not relish that?
OH THE IRONY!!! There’s an assumption here that Athanasiou is going to automatically get thrown onto the ice with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl without having to “earn it” after losing the trust of his coach during the minute opportunity he had prior to the Oilers losing to the Blackhawks in the qualifiers.
My feeling is that it’s “better business” for the Oilers to be able to sign not only Athanasiou but also Jesse Puljujarvi to one-year “show me” deals and what I mean by that is, if they signed with the club, they’d instantly become tradeable assets, moreso in AA’s case than JP’s since he’d be a UFA if they didn’t re-sign him. They’d still own Pulju’s rights if he didn’t come back.
We know that there are teams with interest in both players (Columbus being one) and it’s in Ken Holland’s best interests to do what’s best for the club. Last I checked, spending two 2nd-round picks on a player and then being forced to watch him walk away for nothing is not good for the future of the team.
Leavins spoke to the idea of a $5M third line last week, I believe. I think it was Ennis-Koivu-Puljujarvi he had on it and for the record, I LOVE the idea of putting Jesse with two veterans like that. But, what about a line consisting of Athanasiou-Koivu-Puljujarvi? Food for thought.
