NHL Rumors Weekly: Rangers; Avalanche; Blue Jackets; Blues; and Predators
NHL Rumors Weekly is our main Sunday feature thanks to our sister site, The Daily Goal Horn. Bringing you the top rumors of the week and the latest buzz of the day. Our goal is to have the most comprehensive update available.
Apologies for getting this out a little late but yesterday was busy with all the expansion related new. In this edition, we kick off with the hometown New York Rangers.
NHL Rumors: Latest on the New York Rangers
St. Louis based reporter Andy Strickland caused quite a stir over the weekend. He reports Rangers center Ryan Strome is drawing interest from around the league. The Ottawa Senators are just one of the teams interested in acquiring the 28 year-old center.
There’s been little information beyond this on the matter.
Strome is signed for next season and is on the Rangers protected list. It’s very likely that his name came up in discussions leading up to yesterday’s trade freeze. One potential idea is that the Rangers are still involved in the Jack Eichel trade chatter; which is all what Rick Carpiniello of The Athletic believes. Another possibility is that some other center like Sean Monahan from the Flames is a trade target.
The Rangers sent a 7th round pick to the Lightning to acquire the early negotiating rights to Barclay Goodrow. He was left unprotected, which means the Kraken can also negotiate with him. Dave Pagnotta of The Fourth Period is reporting the Rangers have engaged Goodrow and progress was made. I doubt the Rangers let him hit the open market on 7/28.
Late yesterday, Elliotte Friedman stirred up the trade talk surrounding Pavel Buchnevich again in his latest 31 Thoughts Blog. According to the top NHL Insider, Chris Drury may be shopping him around due to the potentially big payday he has coming.
NHL Rumors Roundup: Gabriel Landeskog unprotected
The Avalanche made it official by not protecting Gabriel Landeskog. All that really means is the Seattle Kraken can begin early negotiations with the pending UFA. He is unlikely to sign before July 28th. But where could the upset captain of the Avs go?
“I think that Gabriel Landeskog is very well aware that St. Louis would be interested,” Elliotte Friedman said on his latest podcast. “He’s very tight with Ryan O’Reilly. They’ve kept in touch..through the whisper network of the NHL he know St. Louis is interested.”
Depending on how the Blues handle Tarasenko, they could definitely get it done. Also mentioned as interested would be the Kings and Predators
Blue Jackets pulling Seth Jones off the table?
The Columbus Blue Jackets are not liking the offers they are receiving for Seth Jones. Multiple reports indicate that they have informed teams that they DO NOT have to trade him this offseason.
Jones, 26, is scheduled to become a UFA next summer. Teams that are reportedly interested are the Blackhawks, and Avalanche. The Flyers were all in but Jones would not negotiate an extension. That caused Philadelphia to move on and acquire Ryan Ellis.
Predators aren’t done making moves
The Nashville Predators leading up to yesterday’s trade freeze moved forward Viktor Arvidsson to the Kings and Ryan Ellis to the Flyers. Is GM David Poile done?
“My vision was a highly competitive team competing for and winning the Stanley Cup, and it hasn’t happened,” he said after trading Ellis. “If I believed that that was going to happen with this present cast, I would not be making these trades.”
Both Matt Duchene and Ryan Johansson are being left unprotected. It’s unlikely the Kraken will select either player, so look for one or both to be moved this offseason.
Blues leave Vladimir Tarasenko unprotected
Apparently up to four teams were interested in taking on Vladimir Tarasenko at his full cap hit. Frank Seravalli notes he isn’t sure why a deal could not be consummated.
It is possible that the deals to take on his full cap hit involved the Blues having to actually incentivize the acquiring club to take him on. That could mean even sending back a first round pick for taking Tarasenko and his $7.5 million cap hit off their hands.
Obviously this was not something that interested St. Louis. This saga is far from over.
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