In today’s NHL rumors rundown, the Seattle Kraken will be sitting down with defenseman Mark Giordano to discuss a trade and the Florida Panthers are among the teams rumored to be interested. Meanwhile, the Edmonton Oilers might make adding a right-shot defenseman a priority over changing the look of their goaltending. Are the Montreal Canadiens interested in hiring Vincent Lecavalier and could the Vegas Golden Knights get around the need to trade players by placing Mark Stone on LTIR? Finally, Sean Couturier is done for the season, when will the Flyers start selling?
Oilers Looking for a Right-Shot Defenseman
After Ken Holland’s press conference on Thursday to talk about the coaching changes, Darren Dreger of TSN reports that the organization might value improving their blue line more than actually going out and acquiring another goaltender. Dreger notes that their issues in goal are obvious, but said, “…you’ve got to look much deeper than that and look at the defensive core of the Edmonton Oilers.”
He added:
“What they need is a top three, top four right shot defence, because their defence collectively has not been good enough. They give up Grade ‘A’ chances night after night, which obviously puts more stress on the Edmonton Oilers.”
Dreger doesn’t believe the Oilers can afford to fix both issues and that the team doesn’t have enough assets to upgrade the goaltending and add a top three, top four defenceman. “So tough decisions ahead for Holland but that right shot d-man is a priority,” Dreger notes.
Panthers Interested in Giordano
TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun reports the plan in Seattle is for Kraken GM Ron Francis to sit with Giordano and “discuss the future to see what Giordano wants to do,” LeBrun notes that Giordano has a 10-team no-trade list, but it is believed the Kraken are only going to move him to a place he’d like to go.
LeBrun notes, “I think he ends up getting dealt and certainly there’s some contenders keeping a close eye on him – the Florida Panthers among them.”
Lecavalier to Join Canadiens?
After hiring Martin St. Louis, there’s speculation the Montreal Canadiens might also bring Vincent Lecavalier into the fold. The belief is that he doesn’t want to relocate from Tampa so he might be asked to take on an advisor role. Rumors of him potential being an assistant GM are not true.
Related: Canadiens Get It Right Firing Ducharme, Hiring St. Louis
TSN insider Pierre LeBrun says, “It’s not a done deal, it’s not a slam dunk that Lecavalier will end up with the Habs but it’s certainly something that’s being talked about so stay tuned.”
Paul Wants to Stay in Ottawa
Chris Johnston notes that Nick Paul is another UFA that would draw some interest at the trade deadline, but it’s not a given the Senators will trade him. That’s because he would like to sign an extension in Ottawa and the Senators do like what he brings.
Johnston says there have been a few discussions about signing him again. That said, the NHL insider also notes:
“As much as they like the player here, I think that they’re looking to balance the fact that they have a number of younger guys that are going to need contracts coming off their entry-level deals and they don’t want to tie up too much future cap space in doing so.”
Flyers’ Couturier Done For Season
Philadelphia Flyers center Sean Couturier underwent successful back surgery on Friday morning and will be out for the remainder of the season, the team announced.
The Flyers were already deemed to be sellers heading into this year’s NHL trade deadline but this news really cements home the fact that there’s little to no chance of turning this season around.
Stone to Go on LTIR?
Frank Seravalli and Mike McKenna of Daily Faceoff discussed the ways in which the Vegas Golden Knights might try to clear salary cap space for the return of Jack Eichel and noted that it’s intriguing timing that captain Mark Stone could go back on LTIR. When asked if that means Vegas won’t have to make a trade, Seravalli responded with, “It is possible.”
He added:
“I can tell you from talking to people around the league that there were a lot of eyebrows that perked up on Wednesday night when Mark Stone missed the game and Pete DeBoer confirmed afterwards that this is a reoccurrence of the back injury that caused him to miss 29 days earlier in the season.”
Seravalli says rival general managers have begun to whisper about what this means and if Stone will be shuffled over to LTIR to get Eichel back on the roster. Moving Stone’s $9.5 million salary until the playoffs would give the team enough space to make the moves they need to. Seravalli did say this wasn’t a for sure. “Again, not to raise alarms, don’t know what the Vegas Golden Knights are going to do, don’t know completely the severity of Mark Stone and his injury, all I can tell you is that is exactly what rival general managers have begun to talk about.”
