In today’s NHL rumor rundown, there is not-so good news from the Edmonton Oilers on Connor McDavid, the Boston Bruins might be interested in a New Jersey Devils forward, the Detroit Red Wings have waived a defenseman and there is news on a potential Oilers and Toronto Maple Leafs deal.
McDavid Out 2-3 Weeks
Edmonton Oilers GM Ken Holland addressed the media in Edmonton on Tuesday morning and while it appeared Connor McDavid was going to be ok to play since he’d skated on Monday, Holland updated his star player’s injury status and gave everyone some not-so-great news.
McDavid will miss 2-3 weeks, hopefully less, as he rests a quad injury that is completely unrelated to his previous injury that he spent all summer rehabbing.
What does this mean for the Oilers moving forward? McDavid will not be available during their upcoming road trip and as the Oilers head towards the trade deadline but he’s not out long enough to do anything with his salary. The Oilers will just have to play their best hockey moving forward and possibly Holland tries to add that piece in the top-six he was rumored to already be looking at as a way to keep the Oilers in the race.
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Bruins Looking at Kyle Palmieri?
Joe Haggerty of NBC Sports Boston suggests New Jersey Devils winger Kyle Palmieri might be a good fit for the Boston Bruins and a viable trade option before February 24.
At this point, the Bruins are rumored to be in on a few names, including New York’s Chris Kreider, LA’s Tyler Toffoli, or Detroit’s Andreas Athanasiou. There’s not even a definitive report out of New Jersey that the Devils are looking to move Palmieri who isn’t a rental but has one more season remaining on his contract ($4.65-million annual average salary).
If Palmieri is available, he would be a nice add for a number of teams. With 37 points in 50 games, including 20 goals he provides immediate and consistent offensive production and the Bruins have been looking for that type of scorer all season.
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Ericsson Placed on Waivers
Courtesy of NHL insider Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet, the Detroit Red Wings have placed defenseman Jonathan Ericsson on waivers. The 35 year old Ericsson has played just 11 games for the Red Wings this season going pointless, but has 27 goals and 125 points in 673 NHL games, all with Detroit.
The waiver demotion has to mean the Red Wings were unable to find a trade partner.
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Oilers and Maple Leafs Talking Huge Trade?
In a recent article for The Athletic, Toronto Maple Leafs insider James Mirtle proposed what would have to be considered a huge trade between the Maple Leafs and Oilers. It’s not a deal that is likely to be done before the trade deadline, but could be looked at in the offseason.
Mirtle suggested that the Leafs should or could have interest in Oilers defenseman Adam Larsson and young Oilers forward Jesse Puljujarvi and in exchange, the Maple Leafs would send Kasperi Kapanen to Edmonton. It’s a deal he calls one that would fill holes for both teams.
I continue to argue there’s potentially an interesting trade to be made between Toronto and Edmonton. It’ll be harder to make before the deadline than in the off-season, but perhaps not impossible.
The Oilers desperately still need more help on the wing, and that’s an area that the Leafs have depth to spare. The Oilers are also very intrigued by the potential of someone like Kapanen to play with Connor McDavid and give them more of a threat up the lineup.
source – ‘Fifteen potential trade targets for the Maple Leafs before the 2020 deadline’ – James Mirtle – The Athletic – 02/04/2020
Clearly, the McDavid injury news changes things for Edmonton in terms of having someone like Kapanen to work with the Oilers captain.
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KHL President Steps Aside
According to one of our sources close to the KHL, President, Dmitry Chernyshenko has reportedly stepped aside which is fairly big news for the league.
Chernyshenko has been credited with formalizing the structure of the league grown it into an international competitor, spread the brand across Europe and supported funding of the Women’s Hockey League. We’ll update this story as more plans to replace him are made available.
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