In today’s NHL rumors rundown, there is confirmation the Edmonton Oilers will not look to the trade market to find a replacement for Evander Kane. Meanwhile, the St. Louis Blues are struggling and if they don’t turn it around, might the plan to re-sign Ryan O’Reilly have changed?
The Vancouver Canucks could try to get a high return for Bo Horvat and the Ottawa Senators might be feeling pressure to make a trade. Finally, could the Pittsburgh Penguins waive Kasperi Kapanen?
Oilers Going With Internal Options While Kane Is Out
It was mentioned in yesterday’s report that the Oilers likely wouldn’t look to the trade market to replace Evander Kane while he’s out of action for three-to-four months. TSN’s Pierre LeBrun confirmed as much in the recent Insider Trading segment where he said, “That’s not going to happen for a number of reasons.”
LeBrun explained that Kane is going to come back in February or March if all goes well and they need that cap number on the books for him to come back so they can’t go out and spend those cap savings. He compared it to Colorado’s situation where captain Gabriel Landeskog and winger Valeri Nichushkin are right now. “When you get an injury this early in the season that’s this significant, it’s the worst timing of all for a team that’s close to the cap,” he said. It appears Dylan Holloway is going to get a long look in that top-six role for the Oilers. He was buzzing on Thursday even though the team lost badly to the Carolina Hurricanes.
Blues Could Make Ryan O’Reilly Available
In his latest piece for The Athletic, LeBrun also noted that the St. Louis Blues might look at shopping either Ryan O’Reilly or Vladimir Tarasenko in trade. Because Tarasenko has a full no-trade clause, it could be O’Reilly that moves if the Blues don’t get things turned around.
There was talk the two sides would revisit contract extension talks later in the year. Still, if the Blues don’t make the playoffs, LeBrun argues that St. Louis won’t be interested in re-signing a 32-year-old struggling center and that his NHL reputation would mean that some teams will have interest in him at the NHL Trade Deadline. He does have a high cap hit, so there would need to be some cap gymnastics (and possibly a third team) to make this work.
Canucks Might Trade Horvat
LeBrun also writes that the Vancouver Canucks might be open to trading 27-year-old center Bo Horvat. If the Canucks don’t get back to looking like a playoff team, there will be some value for him on the trade market. Horvat is off to an incredibly hot start this season.
LeBrun explains:
Horvat doesn’t have no-trade protection, so it’s a clean process for the Canucks as far as being able to speak to any team. And they’ll have plenty interested, especially if they’re willing to eat some of his $5.5 million cap hit to maximize the return. It wouldn’t surprise me if there are even non-playoff teams with trade interest in Horvat, to get a jump start on July 1 and sign him to an extension.
source – ‘LeBrun: Potential NHL trade candidates (O’Reilly? Horvat?) and deadline buyers emerging early’ – Pierre LeBrun – The Athletic – 11/10/2022
Could Senators Be Forced Into Bad Trade?
There is talk the Ottawa Senators are starting to feel the pressure of losing and the realization that their blue-line corps isn’t good enough is weighing heavily on the team. There’s a feeling now that the lack of help on defense could actually jeopardize their playoff aspirations and that they might need to pull the trigger on a trade before it’s too late.
Until recently, the Senators were said to be out on Jakob Chychrun due to the asking price, but Adam Proteau of The Hockey News argues it might be worth moving Shane Pinto (who the Coyotes are rumored to be asking for) to get Chychrun. The Senators absolutely do not want to make that deal. Could they feel forced into it if there’s not another option on the market?
Could the Penguins Waive Kasperi Kapanen?
Dave Molinari of Pittsburgh Hockey Now reports that the Penguins might be heavily considering waiving Kasperi Kapanen if they can’t find a trade partner for the winger. The team hoped that in signing him to a two-year deal at 26 he’d be worth the investment, but the player just doesn’t seem to be working out and was a healthy scratch recently.
If he’s claimed, it would open up $3.2 million in cap space for this season and next.
