NHL Rumors: Penguins, Oilers, Maple Leafs, Stars

In today’s NHL rumors rundown, the Pittsburgh Penguins are making Pierre-Olivier Joseph available. Meanwhile, the Edmonton Oilers are still trying to sort out their cap situation and the play of Dylan Holloway during preseason might make the direction the club takes a bit clearer.

The Toronto Maple Leafs might move pieces around to sign Zach Aston-Reese and the Dallas Stars are growing frustrated with the Jason Robertson situation.

Penguins Trying to Trade Joseph?

According to Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli, Penguins general manager Ron Hextall recently let it be known to all of the other 31 clubs in the league that defenseman Pierre-Oliver Joseph is available via trade. The reason is that the Penguins have nine NHL caliber blue liners at their disposal in Kris Letang, Brian Dumoulin, Jeff Petry, Marcus Pettersson, Ty Smith, Jan Rutta, Chad Ruhwedel, Mark Friedman, and of course Joseph.

Seravalli writes that Hextall let everyone know that he would be open to trading Joseph but that teams are likely to call the Penguins’ bluff since they now know Hextall is looking for a trade. He writes, “Okay, P-O Joseph is available, well that must mean that you’re in a numbers crunch, and eventually if he’s the guy you’re singling out, well then you may need to put him on waivers at some point, so why would we trade for a player we could just pick up on waivers in a few days?”

Is Puljujarvi in Jeopardy?

According to Daniel Nugent-Bowman of The Athletic, “Dylan Holloway’s stock is rising at a meteoric rate, which should keep him on the Oilers roster to start the season. That means Jesse Puljujarvi, who’s been on the trade block for weeks, likely won’t be an Oiler for much longer. Is that the right call?” He goes on to write an article about how well Holloway has played, how he looks like he’s ready, and how Puljujarvi’s salary makes him a likely trade candidate.

Seravalli was asked about the status of a Puljujarvi trade and he responded:

I don’t think it’s any secret at this point that the Oilers attempted to move on from him this summer. They changed their ask as well, they were at first looking for a player back, then they were looking for a pick back, and I think that sort of slid to this point. And with Puljujarvi on a one-year deal at $3 million, I don’t know that teams are out there looking at it saying, “We’re going to get a lot of value out of this player for $3 million”. Maybe on his previous contract, it might have been different, and I think at this point, there hasn’t been enough of a market to develop to make the Oilers want to pull the trigger.

Related: 3 Keys to Stars Survival in Game 6 vs. Wild · Jamie Benn’s Cross-Checking Fine Highlights Inconsistencies by Department of Player Safety · 3 Takeaways From Stars’ 4-2 Game 5 Loss

He reports that he doesn’t see anything on the front burner for Puljujarvi, but the trade talk will only get louder after Holloway scored three goals and an assist on Monday night versus an AHL-heavy Vancouver Canucks lineup.

Maple Leafs Want to Sign Zach Anton-Reese

Elliotte Friedman noted during the latest on 32 Thoughts Podcast that he believes the Toronto Maple Leafs want to sign Zach Aston-Reese to a contract coming off of his PTO. Unfortunately, the team has little roster space or room to add additional players. Friedman believes it’s possible the Leafs will try to move one of their extra forwards for a defenseman that is waiver exempt or already cleared waivers.

Stars Growing Frustrated With Robertson Situation

Friedman also notes that the situation between Jason Robertson and the Dallas Stars has gotten to a level where the is some frustration going on, particularly from the Stars. Friedman thinks the two sides are close, possibly too close for this not to work out.

Saad Yousuf of The Athletic writes that there shouldn’t be a concern about an offer sheet. He notes it’s very unlikely to happen based on the teams who could pull it off and the Stars’ ability to match. As for a trade, he writes:

Dallas could choose to trade Robertson but once again, there are very limited places in the NHL where he would find a richer deal at this juncture. Additionally, there is zero indication that negotiations have gotten that sour. The Stars have publicly maintained that they aim to have Robertson back in the fold as soon as possible. They very much view Robertson as a pillar of their future. Orchestrating Robertson’s exit themselves seems like a far-fetched notion, at this point.

source – ‘Jason Robertson’s contract and the Dallas Stars: Update? Offer sheet? Trade?’ – Saad Yousuf – The Athletic – 10/03/2022