In today’s NHL rumor rundown, there is news on the specifics of the offer by Justin Faulk from the Anaheim Ducks, there is news on the goaltending competition within the St. Louis Blues organization, news out of Pittsburgh on Justin Schultz and Alex Galchenyuk and more. Finally, are the Boston Bruins and defenseman Torey Krug talking extension yet?
Faulk Offered 7 Over 7
As per reports by Elliott Teaford of the Orange County Register, the Anaheim Ducks apparently offered an extension to Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Justin Faulk a contract valued at $7 million per season over seven seasons.
Teaford writes:
Asked specifically about a potential deal with the Ducks, Bartlett said “you never know what can happen.” Faulk must waive his no-trade clause for the Ducks to acquire him. It’s believed the Ducks offered Faulk an extension of a little less than $7 million per season to sweeten the deal.
source – ‘Dallas Eakins says Ducks captain Ryan Getzlaf is on board with new plan’ – Elliot Teaford – Orange County Register – 09/19/2019
When it came back that Faulk was not interested in taking that offer, that’s when the trade fell apart. The feeling must have been that this was a very generous offer and that if he wasn’t going to accept it, it probably wasn’t smart to part with assets to acquire him.
One has to also assume that if this report is true, other teams have to be reconsidering what they might offer in trade if they were interested knowing Faulk either wants a huge payday or simply didn’t want to play in Anaheim. It would be worth finding out if that team is kicking tires.
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Jake Allen Promised Not to Be Traded?
Despite the fact that Jake Allen’s name came up in trade talks throughout the summer, Allen said he wasn’t worried about being traded. Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch noted that Allen states that Blues GM Doug Armstrong and company assured him he wasn’t going anywhere.
Allen said:
I knew internally all along this summer that I wasn’t getting dealt. They had told me that. You know, people talk and things like that, but I knew that they don’t want to get rid of me, so it was good to be reassured that way. I knew that I was coming back. So just put my mind at ease and get really focused on being the best Blue I can. There was a lot of chatter obviously with the way the summer went and the run that Binner went on. But internally I knew I was coming back, so I wasn’t worried about it at all.
source – ‘After no-trade assurance from Blues in offseason, Jake Allen is ‘ready to rock’ – Jim Thomas – St. Louis Dispatch – 09/20/2019
That gave Allen the opportunity to focus on the upcoming season and he says he’s ready to go. He’s going to need to win the starting job from Jordan Binnington however.
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Penguins Won’t Talk Contract With Schultz and Murray
Rob Rossi of The Athletic writes that even though both Matt Murray and Justin Schultz will be free agents after this season and need new contracts, the Pittsburgh Penguins have no desire to talk new deals during this upcoming 2019-20 NHL season.
Along with Murray, the Penguins also have Marcus Pettersson, Jared McCann, Dominik Kahun and Dominik Simon as RFA’s, while Alex Galchenyuk is the other UFA.
Knowing it could cost as much as $31 million to keep everyone, Rossi quoted Rutherford who said:
“With the amount of contracts that are expiring, I think we have to let it play out to see how many pieces we can fit into that puzzle.”
Rossi added:
Rutherford said he is “probably not” going to negotiate with the agents for either Schultz or Murray during this season. Seemingly, that would guarantee Schultz becomes a UFA and Murray’s future in Pittsburgh becomes the talk of next summer.
source – ‘Think this summer was wild for the Penguins? Wait until next year’ – Rob Rossi – The Athletic – 09/19/2019
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Krug Still Waiting in Boston
Joe Haggerty of NBC Sports notes that despite the Boston Bruins getting all of this year’s big free agent signings done, they’ve yet to start talking to Torey Krug who needs an extension after this season.
Krug said of the lack of conversation between himself and the Bruins:
“I’ve made no secret that I want to be part of this room, part of this organization and part of this city . So I’m hoping sooner than later it gets dealt with so I can clear my mind and focus on hockey. But that being said, it’s never a distraction. I’ve done it year after in my career aside from the four-year deal.”
Most reports are that Krug is willing to take a bit of a discount to stay in Boston and that this shouldn’t be too difficult a deal to get done once the two sides start talking.
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