In the final edition of the NHL rumor rundown for Saturday, the second day of the NHL Entry Draft, there is a residual effect from the transactions that happened just before the start of Round 2.
Once the Nashville Predators traded P.K. Subban and the Toronto Maple Leafs moved Patrick Marleau, it became clear what lay ahead for some NHL clubs.
Subban Deal Details, Hall Approves
TSN’s Pierre LeBrun offered up a number of updates after the Predators moved Subban to the New Jersey Devils. Saying first, “Obviously this clears the way for Nashville to presumably make an offer to UFA star center Matt Duchene. The UFA speaking period opens Sunday,” he followed it up by providing more detail about the behind-the-scenes of the trade.
LeBrun explained that there were at least four teams interested in Subban, including the Toronto Maple Leafs, but all teams outside of the Devils wanted the Preds to retain salary in the trade. Nashville wanted to move the entire contract which took the Leafs and others out of the running.
The Leafs were willing to take on Subban as a $6 million player but Nashville needed the money to go after Matt Duchene in free agency. Duchene let the Columbus Blue Jackets now he’d be testing free agency and the Preds have long been looked at as the front runners.
From the Devils’ side of things, before Devils GM Ray Shero pulled off the trade, he spoke to both Taylor Hall and former Devil Brian Boyle about Subban. According to NHL.com’s Amanda Stein, Shero wanted to make sure that Subban would be a good fit as well as making sure that Hall approved of the deal.
One of the main reasons the Devils grabbed Subban was in the hopes they could convince Hall to re-sign.
Related: NHL Rumors: Predators, Penguins, Barrie, More
Marleau Trade Changes Trade Landscape
The Patrick Marleau deal to Carolina has very little to do with him playing for the Hurricanes. In fact, Chris Johnston of Sportsnet is reporting Marleau has been assured he’ll be bought out by the Hurricanes should he want.
Meanwhile, Hurricanes GM, Don Waddell said of the rumors they intend to talk to Marleau and see if he is interested in staying with Carolina.
Michael Smith writes:
“For us, when you can pick up assets like that, like a 1st round pick, that’s important for the future. The plan would be to meet with Patrick, talk with him and see where he’s at. If he wanted to be a Hurricane, we’d certainly love to have him.”
The thought here is that Marleau wants to work his way back to San Jose and the only way to accomplish that was to eliminate his current salary and give the Sharks an option to add him at a highly-reduced rate. Their priority is to first sign Joe Pavelski and others.
Other GM’s have taken notice of what Toronto had to give up just to move Marleau’s salary and find another team to take on the responsibility of buying him out. It could change any chances of a team like Edmonton ridding themselves of Milan Lucic’s deal or Vancouver moving Loui Eriksson.
Related: NHL Rumors: Sabres, Hurricanes, Maple Leafs, More
Anders Lee to Talk With Other Teams
Reports regarding New York Islanders forward Anders Lee is that he will start talking to others teams tomorrow. Lee said of the fact that a deal hasn’t been completed with the Islanders, yet, “I never thought it would get to this point, but I guess it’s the nature of what this week means.”
Reports are that he wants to stay with the Islanders and that he will continue talking with the team but will also field other offers.
LeBrun reports that he saw Islanders general manager Lou Lamoriello and Lee’s agent, Neil Sheehy were having a lengthy discussion during the draft Saturday.
Sticking with the Islanders, David Pagnotta reports defenseman Nick Leddy and forwards Thomas Hickey and Josh Ho-Sang are in play.
Related: NHL Rumors: Draft Day Rumors, Blackhawks, Avs, More
Justin Faulk to Washington?
The Athletic’s Sara Civian reported on Saturday that talks regarding Justin Faulk being traded had picked up and that the Carolina Hurricanes and the Washington Capitals were discussing a deal. Part of a package could include the rights to Quinnipiac University defenseman Chase Priskie.
NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti reported that Capitals general manager Brian MacLellan said the report of a potential deal with Carolina for Faulk was not true. “No. We haven’t had any discussions about him.”