NHL Rumors: Kraken, Panthers, Jets, Flames, Canucks, More

In today’s NHL Rumors rundown, there is speculation the Seattle Kraken have their sights set on the an acting NHL coach. Meanwhile, one insider disagrees with the Calgary Flames own internal assessment of their season and thinks the club could be making some big changes. The Winnipeg Jets are getting back a key player Sunday night and speculation that J.T. Miller wants to leave the Vancouver Canucks is not accurate. Finally, what is the future of Logan Brown with the Ottawa Senators?

Kraken And Joel Quenneville?

New York Post scribe Larry Brooks took a closer look at speculation hinting Florida Panthers head coach Joel Quenneville could have his sights set on becoming head coach of the Seattle Kraken and that the Kraken are waiting to hire him until the Panthers season is officially over. Brooks thinks the buzz might be accurate which is why the Kraken have moved so slowly to land their bench boss.

Florida Panthers Joel Quenneville
Florida Panthers head coach Joel Quenneville (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

Brooks writes:

If the Puddy Tats let Quenneville get away, and certainly so if this is related to money, then perhaps we should all rethink whether Aleksander Barkov is a slam-dunk to re-up with the Panthers before he becomes eligible to hit the open market a year from July.

One thing to keep in mind here is that Quenneville’s contract with the Panthers doesn’t expire this season. Florida would either need to let him out of the deal or fire him for this to become a complicated legal matter.

Related: 3 Keys to the Oilers Getting Back Into the Series

Flames Need to Move Guadreau or Monahan?

According to former TSN insider Frank Seravalli, now co-host of the DFO Hockey Rundown podcast, Seravalli disagreed with Flames’ general manager Brad Treliving’s own assessment of the roster. Suggesting he’ll come to realize this was not a good team that had a bad year, big changes are coming and namely to the core of the roster.

Seravalli suggested that adding Jacob Markstrom and Chris Tanev didn’t work as planned and feels the Flames need a new look. If the organization doesn’t change up the man in charge, Seravalli believes moving one of Johnny Gaudreau or Sean Monahan is the right option.

Johnny Gaudreau Calgary Flames
Johnny Gaudreau, Calgary Flames (Amy Irvin / The Hockey Writers)

Flames radio host Pat Steinberg added that Flames forward Matthew Tkachuk is eligible to sign a contract extension this offseason but the player hadn’t spoken to the Flames about an extension just yet.

Senators and Logan Brown Future

Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun points out that Logan Brown’s terrible season for the Senators may change the way the team sees him and what their future plans are for the forward. Brown is a former first-round pick, but has had health issues and hasn’t developed as the Senators might have hoped.

The 23-year-old forward is a pending RFA and GM Pierre Dorion indicated they will send him a qualifying offer. That said, he is expected to be exposed for the Kraken NHL expansion draft. Garrioch writes:

This has never been expressed publicly, but there is a sense Brown wouldn’t mind a change of scenery. He doesn’t feel he’s been given the opportunity to succeed here and the belief is he changed agents last summer to help facilitate a trade to another organization. No formal request has been made so who knows if that’s the case?

source – ‘GARRIOCH: It’s up to Logan Brown to determine where his career is headed’ – Ottawa Sun – Bruce Garrioch – 05/21/2021

Ehlers Ready to Re-Join Jets

NHL insider Elliotte Friedman reported on Saturday night that veteran forward Nikolaj Ehlers would be ready to go for Game 3 of this series on Sunday night versus the Edmonton Oilers. The Jets then confirmed that news on Sunday morning.

This is huge news for the Jets who have a 2-0 series lead over Edmonton and have been without Ehlers since the end of the regular season where he suffered a shoulder injury. In 47 regular season games, Ehlers had 21 goals and 25 assists.

Miller Wants to Stay with Canucks

Friedman also noted during the Headlines segment on Hockey Night In Canada, that there was speculation a couple of Canucks forwards were looking to possibly be traded. While GM Jim Benning denied that anyone had asked for a move, Friedman does know that Miller certainly hasn’t. Friedman explained:

No, he does not want to be traded, he does not want to leave, he wants to be a Vancouver Canuck. He has no intentions of leaving. ‘We have a good team here’ and he wants to be a part of it.

Miller has two seasons left on the five-year, $26.25 million deal and carries a cap hit of $5.25 million. He is nearly a point-per-game for the Canucks, and if he were made available, it’s likely a team or two would be interested.