Weekly Rumours – What did and didn’t happen at the NHL Trade Deadline
3 years ago
The Oilers stayed relatively quiet at the trade deadline on Monday. Ken Holland shored up the Oilers blueline by acquiring Dmitry Kulikov from the Devils but didn’t seem too interested in taking a big swing and trying to acquire a scoring winger for the top six. It was not an overly surprising day from an Oilers perspective.
As for the rest of Canada, there were a few surprises.
The Toronto Maple Leafs did a really good job of rounding out their roster. They got their main target, Nick Foligno, and while they paid a hefty price to get him, I applaud Leafs GM Kyle Dubas for making sure he got who he believes was the best fit on the market. He also got some depth on the blue line and between the pipes. The Leafs look solid.
There was talk that they were close to getting Antti Raanta from the Arizona Coyotes, but the deal apparently fell through. They had previously been interested in Kyle Palmieri as well.
I was very surprised that the Winnipeg Jets did not do more. They are one impact defenseman away from having a damn near-perfect roster in my opinion. They clearly needed help on their blueline and they ended up getting a worse defenseman than the Oilers did. They were apparently very interested in Mattias Ekholm at one point, but wouldn’t part ways with Ville Heinola in the deal.
Friedman did say that they were apparently considering Alex Goligoski from the Coyotes but obviously couldn’t make a deal happen.
The Canucks didn’t do much but considering their current COVID situation, you can understand why. The Senators traded off a few assets and while I’m impressed they managed to get anything for Erik Gudbransson, I’m a little bit surprised they didn’t find a home for Ryan Dzingel. Multiple insiders said there wasn’t a lot of interest in him.
The Flames got a really solid haul for Sam Bennett and a third-round pick for David Rittich. That’s some good work by GM Brad Treliving but I’m surprised they didn’t find a home for Derek Ryan. I thought the Oilers would have been interested in him.
At the end of the day, I’m surprised that the Oilers didn’t find a way to add a bottom-six centre. Even if it would have just been for a sixth-round pick, I thought Holland would have found a way to do something to give their forward group a little bit of added depth.
TAYLOR HALL
Failed to load video.
The market simply wasn’t there for @Taylor Hall. Sabres GM Kevyn Adam is getting ripped for what he wasn’t able to get in the deal but as Frank Seravalli pointed out on The DFO Rundown, the market clearly wasn’t there. That along with the fact that Hall clearly wanted to go to Boston made it so that Adams really didn’t have a lot of options.
Pierre LeBrun did say that Adams may have gotten a better offer from a Western Conference team. Seravalli added on The Rundown that the Avalanche and Golden Knights were interested in Hall as well. So there are some dots to connect there. Elliotte Friedman added that the Golden Knights made a push.
Oilers GM Ken Holland did say that he was not in on Hall. The Leafs apparently were not interested in the scoring winger either. Nick Foligno is their guy.
Now, the conversation shifts to whether or not Hall will even make it to unrestricted free agency. Friedman kicked off ‘31 Thoughts’ this week by talking about Hall and wondering if he could be a long-term fit in Boston. It sounds like there’s a real chance this is much more than a straight-up rental move. There is apparently a lot of mutual interest in making this thing work long-term.
QUICK NOTES
- The Seattle Kraken will apparently soon be able to start making official moves, they can only make handshake agreements as of right now. GM Ron Francis told TSN the organization will wait to name a Head Coach. They want to see which options will be out there.
- Friedman had an interesting note in ‘31 Thoughts’ where he said that term will be a big issue this offseason when it comes to teams and free agents with a “flat cap coming for several years.” We had heard there would be a flat cap for a few seasons, but it’s surprising to hear it could be more than two or three years.
- Philadelphia also apparently considered going after Alex Goligoski.
- I’m surprised that the Coyotes didn’t sell off a little bit more at the deadline. I thought guys like Raanta and Goligoski were locks to be moved.
- Friedman added that the Oilers were in on Patrick Nemeth before Colorado got him. So Kulikov was clearly a backup plan.
- The Avalanche apparently looked into David Rittich before checking down and getting Devan Dubnyk.
- Up next: expansion draft rumours!
Recent articles from Tyler Yaremchuk
