In today’s NHL rumor rundown, the Minnesota Wild have done a 180 degree turn on their urgency to trade defenseman Matt Dumba. In Detroit, what else might the Red Wings add before next season begins? In Edmonton, there is some competition brewing between prospect defensemen and the team has loaned newly-acquired Dominik Kahun out. Finally, the Buffalo Sabres released a video last week that tells a lot about the Taylor Hall signing.
Wild No Longer Trying to Trade Dumba
According to Michael Russo of The Athletic, Minnesota Wild GM Bill Guerin has no longer placed a great urgency on trading Matt Dumba. There were reports the Wild were looking to use Dumba as an asset to grab a first or second-line player but a few things have changed.
His value around the league simply isn’t there thanks to teams not having the space or funds available to acquire a $6 million player and after a bit of a down year, Guerin wasn’t going to be able to land the piece he needed. Add to that the fact the acquiring team would then need to find a way to protect him in the expansion draft and it complicated matters.
If Dumba has a great season in 2020/21, the market for him may improve. If not, the Wild might be inclined to protect eight skaters as opposed to seven forwards, three defensemen and one goalie during expansion. Guerin believes there’s no rush to move Dumba now.
Related: Prospects News & Rumors: Brook, USHL, Big Ten & More
Red Wings Could Add at Least One More Piece
Red Wings beat writer for The Athletic, Max Bultman notes that general manager Steve Yzerman said Thursday, that as the 2020/21 NHL season gets closer, the team could consider adding another player.
The Red Wings have been busy, mostly adding short-term deals to their roster during a rebuild. If that continues to be their strategy, there are still lots of free agents looking for a home for next season, many of whom could play well and be tradeable pieces by the next NHL trade deadline.
Oilers Loan Kahun to DEL
After signing Dominik Kahun to a one-year deal worth $975K, the Edmonton Oilers aren’t waiting long to get their new left-winger into some game action. The organization has loaned Kahun to Red Bull Muenchen of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga until the start of the NHL season.
The Oilers have a ton of players currently playing international hockey and on loan to other teams. Like those players, the expectation is that Kahun will be back in time to join the Oilers for NHL training camp.
There is also an interesting competition going on between defense prospects William Lagesson and Evan Bouchard. Lagesson is outscoring Bouchard as both defencemen play in Allsvenskan, the league below the top-drawer Swedish Hockey League. There may be only room for one of those players on the Oilers roster.
Also, when it comes to Phillip Broberg, Holland notes:
“my thought is he’ll stay in Skelleftea until their Swedish season is over. Our NHL season will go way beyond that (so he can come to Edmonton). We’ve got some young defencemen.”
source -‘Oilers notebook: Defensive blueliner William Lagesson tearing it up in Sweden’ – Jim Matheson – Edmonton Journal – 11/06/2020
Related: Oilers’ 3 Worst Contracts for 2021
Hall Wanted Long-Term Deal in Buffalo
The Buffalo Sabres have provided a behind-the-scenes look at what happened during the negotiations to bring Taylor Hall to the team. The video doesn’t show the financial negotiations but it does paint a pretty clear picture that it was the Sabres who wanted the short-term deal, not Taylor Hall.
Hall’s agent Darren Ferris calls the Sabres on more than one occasion to see why the organization isn’t interested in a long-term deal and while Hall wasn’t stuck on only wanting to sign long-term, it seemed to be his preference. After choosing a one-year deal, Hall does say in his interview that the best thing would be to have this work out and sign an extension.
The video seems to dispute any notion that Hall wasn’t really interested in the Sabres but chose them due to a lack of options.
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