Weekly Rumours – Rosters being trimmed and players are available
4 years ago
With some teams close to the salary cap and some teams facing difficult roster decisions, the rumour mill is red-hot right now. We just saw @Justin Faulk finally get moved and I believe that is the first of many dominos that will fall in the next seven days. It’s a bit of a hunch, but there are enough names floating around out there to believe that we could see lots of trade activity in the next week.
I’ll get to some trade talk but I wanted to start by addressing a contract negotiation that has become a big headline this week:
HALL EXTENSION CLOSER THAN EXPECTED
There is always talk about @Taylor Hall potentially returning to Edmonton next summer when he is an unrestricted free agent. Outside of Edmonton, there has been lots of talk that Hall will want to test the market the way that @Artemi Panarin just did. There has also been chatter about him wanting to go to a bigger market than New Jersey. All of that has been mentioned over the last few months.
Elliott Friedman said that he feels the two sides are closer to signing an extension than they’re leading on and Pierre LeBrun said that his gut feeling is that Hall will end up staying in New Jersey.
All of the evidence that we’re getting from multiple insiders suggests that Hall will eventually sign a long-term deal in New Jersey. It might come in July, it might come in December, but I believe it’s coming.
As for the Hall to Edmonton talk? I never really considered that to be realistic.
IS MATT BENNING EXPENDABLE?
My good friend Allan Mitchell (Lowetide) brought up the idea of @Matt Benning potentially being expendable. The Oilers have plenty of interesting options on the right side including @Joel Persson, @Ethan Bear, @William Lagesson, and even Evan Bouchard. I can understand why Benning and his nearly $2 million cap hit could be moved, I just don’t want to see it happen quite yet.
He’s a young, right-shot defenseman with offensive potential. He’s barely played 200 games in the NHL. While he is more developed than the options I listed above, he’s also not fully reached his NHL potential in my opinion. I think the Oilers should keep him on the roster for the rest of the season, as they should with all of their young defensemen.
The injury to Persson and the demotion of Bouchard certainly makes it less likely that a trade happens in the next week or two.
The only exception would be if the return is tremendous. If Ottawa offers you JG Pageau for a package that includes Matt Benning, the Oilers would have to seriously consider it. I would assume that the Jets and Habs would also have some interest in Benning.
HABS LOOKING AT MOVING A FORWARD
Elliott Friedman brought up the @Montreal Canadiens in his recent edition of ‘31 Thoughts’ and mentioned that they’re looking to move a forward. I could see Charles Hudon being moved before the beginning of the season, but Friedman also mentioned Jonathan Drouin.
Drouin and the Habs have had a rocky relationship since he was acquired from the Lightning a few years ago. He’s been inconsistent and I wouldn’t be totally stunned if the Canadiens tried to move on from him and his $5.5 million cap hit. They could probably get something pretty good in return for him.
His speed would look good in the Oilers top six and they would really benefit from adding a scoring winger. I doubt the Oilers would be able to squeeze in his cap hit unless Kris Russel was going back the other way.
VIRTANEN COULD BE ON THE MOVE
Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston was on Sportsnet Radio in Vancouver that he wouldn’t be surprised to see Jake Virtanen traded for another player who needs a change of scenery.
Virtanen has one more year with a cap hit of $1.25 million and then he is an RFA. He had some good stretches last season and scored 15 goals in 70 games. I think he would be a good player for the Oilers to target and honestly, there might be a fit here.
The Oilers have @Jesse Puljujarvi, who wants a change of scenery (although I’m not sure if the value is there to swap him straight up for Virtanen). They have the cap space to bring in Virtanen for this season and the flexibility to sign him next summer.
The fact that these two teams are in the same division would usually lead me to believe that a trade is unlikely but after seeing the Oilers and Flames swap Lucic for Neal this summer, I’m willing to believe that anything can happen.
I would keep an eye on this Virtanen situation.
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