In today’s NHL rumor rundown, the Carolina Hurricanes have made a lucrative offer to Andrei Svechnikov and he’s said no. What’s next for the player and the team? In Chicago, are the Blackhawks potentially looking at Matt Murray? What is Taylor Hall willing to entertain as far as offers go and finally, did Robin Lehner’s new deal with the Golden Knights create a domino effect that will travel through the rest of the trade market and free agency as far as netminders are concerned?
Svechnikov Betting on Himself
According Elliotte Friedman’ s recent 31 Thoughts report, the Carolina Hurricanes are believed to have offered forward Andrei Svechnikov eight years x $7.5 million per season on a long-term extension. Thinking he can do better, he’s declined the offer and it looks like he’ll be eyeing a bridge deal with the team.
Hurricanes GM Don Waddell agreed that it might be best to look at a short-term bridge contract and see if they can’t lock Svechnikov into an eight-year contract afterwards. Waddell says from his conversations with the agent, Svechnikov wants to stay and they certainly want to have him. It’s simply a matter of the player believing he can produce at a level over the next two seasons where he becomes a $9 or $10 million player.
In other Hurricanes news, two of their defensemen are expected to test the free agency market. Waddell told reporters, including NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti, both Sami Vatanen and Trevor van Riemsdyk are reportedly going to hit the open market on Friday and while the team would like to keep both players, understand they have the right to see what’s out there. Waddell said:
We’ve made it real clear that we’d like both guys, but we also understand that we’re under a little bit more of a scrutiny with our salary cap. So if they go out to the market, whatever the market will bear, it might be something that if they do come back to us that we can talk about.
Related: Making Sense of Recent Blue Jackets’ Rumors
Chicago Kicking Tires on Matt Murray?
According to the Ottawa Sun’s Bruce Garrioch, the Chicago Blackawks have looked at replacing a potentially exiting goaltender in Corey Crawford with Penguins’ goaltender Matt Murray. He noted on Twitter, “One possible destination for Pittsburgh goalie Matt Murray could be Chicago. Led to believe they’ve expressed some interest.”
If accurate, it could suggest the Blackhawks and Crawford’s side are even farther apart on a potential new deal than anyone could have imagined. With reports already out there that Crawford was going to test the free agent market, it appears the Blackhawks aren’t sitting idly by and waiting. They’re getting proactive and examining other options, Murray among them.
Did Lehner’s Deal Ripple the Goalie Waters?
There’s some chatter after the announcement that Robin Lehner had inked a new five-year extension with the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday that his deal is under value for a goalie of his caliber and other free agent netminders are going to feel the pinch because of it.
Sean Shapiro of The Athletic wrote: “Lehner could have gotten more IMO. Other goalies on market hurt a bit by that AAV.” Matthew Sekeres of TSN 1040 noted that he believes Lehner’s deal is now the baseline for a Jacob Markstrom’s new deal and others are suggesting Lehner’s deal shows just how much of a buyer’s market this is on the goaltending front.
As for fallout within the Golden Knights organization, David Pagnotta notes there’s no news on a potential Marc-Andre Fleury move. He suggests the team isn’t close to sending him elsewhere and one of the reasons is because the Golden Knights are not keen on retaining any of his $7 million cap hit.
Taylor Hall Open to One or Two-Year Deal?
Chris Johnston of Sportsnet on Headlines says Taylor Hall will entertain one or two-year deals. “Any interested team is going to be given a chance to make a proposal to him. How do they see him fitting in, what he might do for their team, why it makes sense…”
This is a huge change from earlier reports that Hall was interested in locking himself down to a long-term deal now versus later. This could open the door to some interesting teams getting into the mix.
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