In today’s NHL rumor rundown, there is finally a decision on Jesse Puljujarvi, the Toronto Maple Leafs are looking at possible options for the backup goaltender position, and are the New York Rangers considering trading one of their prospects? Finally, how long are the Dallas Stars willing to wait to get production from their two highest-paid forwards?
Puljujarvi Staying in Finland
According to Sami Hoffren of Ilta-Sanomat, he has been told that Jesse Puljujarvi will be staying in Finland for the rest of the season. While there was some speculation Puljujarvi might return to the NHL before the December 1, 2019 deadline, his success in Finland and comfort with Karpat make it sound like he’s not coming back, regardless of which NHL that owns his rights.
This news changes things as far as any trade would be concerned. The Edmonton Oilers could still move him, but no team will pay full value for Puljujarvi knowing he’s not likely to return.
For now, expect the story on Puljujarvi to disappear this season and for the Oilers to re-look at this situation next summer. Their best hope is that he continues to put up big numbers and a team shows interest after the season ends.
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Maple Leafs Backup Goaltending
After the Toronto Maple Leafs placed goaltender Michael Hutchinson on waivers, they’ve called up Kasimir Kaskisuo from the Toronto Marlies. The hope is that he can step in and adequately fill the backup position.
There is some uncertainty around how well he’ll perform considering he’s not played an NHL game over his four-year career. As such, there are rumors the Maple Leafs had actually reached out to former NHL goalie Scott Darling.
NHL insider David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reports that the Leafs “reached out” to Darling, only Darling wound up in Austria. It will be interesting to see if there’s any more news to come out of this situation should Kaskisuo struggle. Considering how poorly Darling played in Carolina before he left the NHL, he hardly seems like the solution.
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Rangers to Trade Lias Andersson?
Former seventh-overall pick in 2017, Lias Andersson may find himself on the way out of New York. He’s been up with the big club in the NHL all season but his playing time has dropped to just 9:54 per game so far in 2019-20. Larry Brooks of the New York Post believes the writing is on the wall for Andersson to be traded.
At 21-years-old, Andersson should still have a lot to offer an NHL team but if he keeps struggling with the Rangers, his value may drop and the Rangers don’t appear keen to send him to their AHL Hartford affiliate. Brooks believes if they don’t think he’s part of their long-term core, they can salvage something out of his age and draft pedigree.
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Stars Disappointed in Seguin and Benn
The drama that surrounded the Dallas Stars’ Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin last season doesn’t seem to be going away. This season, they’ve been held scoreless in 14 of the last 18 games and their coach is calling them out.
When Jim Montgomery was asked if he was disappointed with the scoring of the top players, he responded, “Very disappointed.” When asked if he was seeing progress, he responded, “No. Are you?”
As Matthew DeFranks of the Dallas Morning News writes:
On many levels, it’s paramount that Benn and Seguin begin producing. In the long term, they are the pieces with the most money invested in them, with ironclad no movement clauses that tie them to Dallas, in part responsible for the Stars operating at the salary cap. In the short term, the Stars are without Hintz (for at least a week longer) and John Klingberg (for between one to three more weeks), engines for their offense at their best.
source – ‘Jim Montgomery says he’s ‘disappointed’ with the lack of scoring from Stars’ duo Tyler Seguin, Jamie Benn’ – Dallas Morning News – Matthew DeFranks – 11/10/2019
Perhaps most concerning is that Benn doesn’t seem to be bothered by his lack of production. When asked if he was frustrated with his personal scoring drought, he paused for eight seconds and said “No, not really, actually.”
Who Will Replace Don Cherry?
And, of course, the latest news out of the Don Cherry saga is that the long-time Hockey Night in Canada personality has been removed from his position with Sportsnet. Who will replace him on Saturday’s broadcast? Or, will Sportsnet even have a Coach’s Corner segment? That remains to be seen.
Early speculation seems to be moving Elliotte Friedman and Chris Johnston into a new segment while others are calling for Brian Burke to play some sort of role.
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