In today’s NHL rumors rundown, the Colorado Avalanche might be a team to watch on the Claude Giroux front over the next couple of days. With the injury to Gabriel Landeskog, there’s a potential window of opportunity opening up for Colorado. Meanwhile, in contrast to what GM Ron Hextall said about wanting to add, Brian Burke says the Pittsburgh Penguins aren’t expecting they’ll be busy at this year’s trade deadline.
The San Jose Sharks aren’t making Tomas Hertl available in trade and there is an update on what Marc-Andre Fleury is thinking when it comes to a potential move over the next week.
Watch Out For Avalanche on the Giroux Front
As per Jeff Marek, there isn’t much in the way of an update on a pending Giroux trade out of Philadelphia. The latest is that teams have called about their 34-year-old veteran forward but the big offers haven’t come in yet. There’s still time and one team to watch out for might be the Colorado Avalanche.
With news that Gabriel Landeskog is injured and with Samuel Girard out, there might be some money opening up on the Avs’ salary cap, especially if the Landeskog injury is expected to be serious (which it is because he’s scheduled for surgery). Kevin Bieksa noted during Saturday’s broadcast of the Edmonton Oilers vs. Tampa Bay Lightning game that Landeskog probably doesn’t volunteer to get surgery unless he felt he could be back in time for the playoffs. That could be why he’s going now. The Avalanche can put him on LTIR, it frees up money to acquire Giroux and the team potentially has both players for the postseason.
Sharks Not Making Hertl Available
Elliotte Friedman reports that the San Jose Sharks are still working diligently to try and get center Tomas Hertl re-signed to an extension. As of now, his name is not out there in the trade market and anyone who asks has been told Hertl isn’t available at this point in time.
Penguins Don’t Expect to Be Busy
As per Mike DeFabo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, he quotes Penguins’ president of hockey operations Brian Burke, who said about this year’s trade deadline, “We’re probably not going to be able to do much.” Burke added on Sunday, “We’re capped out. I can’t imagine we’re going to do something big or noisy at the deadline.”
Related: Oilers and Maple Leafs Could Help Each Other at NHL Trade Deadline
DeFabo added:
“If the Penguins make a tweak to the roster, it will need to be cap-conscious. Should the Penguins take on a contract, they’d need to shed a salary of about equal value.”
source – ‘Brian Burke doesn’t anticipate ‘big or noisy’ deadline move for Pens’ – Mike DeFabo – Pittsburgh Post-Gazette – 03/07/2022
Because they like their team, there’s not really a player you can easily point to and say, ‘that’s someone the organization is willing to move out to get what they need’. The lone player who could be in that situation is Kasperi Kapanen. He’s on the verge of being a healthy scratch and it’s not believed the Penguins plan to extend him after this season. Everyone else, the Penguins have said they like as players and have no intention of moving.
Final Word on Fleury?
During the 32 Thoughts podcast, Elliotte Friedman provided an update on the Marc-Andre Fleury situation in what could be the bottom line when it comes to whether he gets dealt. He noted, “this is what I’ve heard about a (Marc-Andre) Fleury. I’ve heard Fleury has said that he will only go somewhere if he thinks A) it’s good for his family and B) where he thinks he can win.”
Friedman added that he doesn’t get the impression the no-trade list is all that important in all of this because Chicago has always maintained they will only trade him if he’s comfortable and they know he’ll want to go to a winner. The Toronto Maple Leafs are said to be very interested but there’s thought that Fleury wants to wind up back in Pittsburgh.
Friedman is ruling out the Capitals because of the Penguins connection, he notes the Colorado Avalanche situation isn’t very realistic and the Vegas situation is too crazy for Fleury to probably go back to, plus they’ve denied interest.
