In today’s rumor rundown the Columbus Blue Jackets have received offers for forward Artemi Panarin. Are they good enough to consider a deal? The situation in Montreal between Max Pacioretty and the team gets stranger by the day and the Flyers are looking to add another player before the season starts.
Blue Jackets Receiving Offers for Panarin
With speculation Artemi Panarin is still a name to watch on the trade block, rumors are now that the Columbus Blue Jackets have started receiving offers for Panarin. In his State of the Franchise column for The Athletic, Blue Jackets insider Aaron Portzline reports that Columbus has received trade offers that include prospects and “high-round draft picks.” The Blue Jackets want more, including someone that would help replace Panarin’s production immediately.
Knowing that’s unlikely to happen Portzline said:
The situation with Bobrovsky and Panarin threatens to cast a pall over the season for the Blue Jackets. Losing either of them would be hard to swallow; losing both of them for no return is positively untenable. The best hope for the Blue Jackets is that Panarin will have a change of heart when he gets back to Columbus, that looking his teammates in the eye and hearing their pleas will convince him to stay. That seems unlikely, but it might be all they have.
source – “State of the Franchise: Uncertainty of Bobrovsky, Panarin futures casts a pall on Blue Jackets” – The Athletic – Aaron Portzline Aug 30, 2018
The situation for Panarin doesn’t seem to have changed. He’s unwilling to come to the table to talk an extension and has given the team a deadline of September 13, 2018, to make something happen so that he doesn’t have to deal with questions about his contract once the season starts.
Portzline reports speculation that the New York Rangers, New York Islanders, Los Angeles Kings, Tampa Bay Lightning, Florida Panthers and Dallas Stars are on his list of preferred destinations. He also said that list has been downplayed by Panarin’s agent and that no list has been submitted.
Related: NHL Rumors: Seguin, Pacioretty, Trouba, More
Pacioretty Wants to Stay in Montreal
The situation in Montreal and between the Canadiens and Max Pacioretty gets stranger by the day. In a series of tweets, Pacioretty’s agent Allan Walsh shot down rumors of there being “sources” outside the organization that Pacioretty had asked for a trade multiple times last season. Walsh continues to contend his client wants to stay in Montreal, has not asked for a trade and can’t understand why the team won’t even negotiate.
Walsh also confirmed the Canadiens did have a trade worked out at the draft with the Los Angeles Kings but that Pacioretty was in no way involved and Walsh insists Pacioretty is “ready to sign an extension with Montreal today.”
Clearly, there is a communication issue between the team and the player and you could tell at Pacioretty’s recent charity golf tournament where things were more than awkward. Walsh was constantly posting videos of speeches by partners and sponsors nearly pleading for Pacioretty to stay and Pacioretty himself was quite emotional. Meanwhile, management said they had no idea why everyone perceived there to be a rift between the two sides.
The reality is, few people know the real story here. Pacioretty has trade protection in his contract, he likely wants fair market value after playing so many seasons at a team-friendly rate but he had a poor year so the market to acquire him isn’t likely as high as it could or should be.
Related: NHL Rumors: Zetterberg, Nurse, Voynov, More
Flyers Looking to Trade For Defensive Forward
Flyers GM Ron Hextall told Dave Isaac of the Cherry Hill Courier-Post the team is looking to add a defensive-minded forward, likely via trade. When asked about a future move to improve the team, “I’m open to it, but it would probably be more of a lateral move on the market rather than a free agent,” Hextall said. “It would be a forward. We’d like to add a penalty-killing forward but to this point, there’s been nothing there that’s made enough sense for us to move.”
The addition of James van Riemsdyk will clearly help the team offensively but not necessarily short-handed where the team has struggled more than in previous seasons.
No One Calling About Voynov
Josh Cooper of The Athletic tweeted the Los Angeles Kings have not received inquiries about defenseman Slava Voynov. Voynov would like to return to the NHL and if he does, the Kings would hold his rights but the NHL has not cleared him and both the team and player have little control over what happens next.
