Johnny Gaudreau Won’t Ask for Trade, Hjalmarsson to Have Hearing and More News

by

The Calgary Flames are moving through training camp without the services of their leading scorer Johnny Gaudreau. The restricted free agent forward is still without a contract.

Gaudreau’s agent Lewis Gross laid any trade request speculation to rest Sunday. “We have no intention of asking for a trade at this time,” he told Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. “He wants to stay in Calgary.”

That’s good news for Calgary as trade requests from young players looking to be paid like they’re in their prime (because they are) has become increasingly frequent.

However, Gross didn’t sound pleased about how negotiations are progressing. “Our last conversation with the Flames was on Sept. 9,” he said. “We were told we’d get a call in two days. It hasn’t happened. Next Friday will be a month.”

Flames general manager Brad Treliving didn’t want to get into it, according to Friedman. “We’re not going to negotiate this publicly. We’ve said several times that we are optimistic this is going to get done. We want Johnny here.”

Very little information about negotiations has made it out into the public eye. Though, shortly before that Sept. 9 conversation, The Calgary Sun’s Eric Francis reported that Gaudreau’s ask was around $8 million. Other reports state that the Flames want Gaudreau to land somewhere between Sean Monahan ($6.375 million) and captain Mark Giordano ($6.75 million).

Hjalmarsson to Have Hearing

As previously reported, Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson received a match penalty for a hit in Saturday’s preseason contest against St. Louis, meaning that he’s automatically suspended for Sunday’s preseason game (a game that he was unlikely to play in anyhow).

But he could be out a longer than that. The NHL Department of Player Safety announced Sunday that Hjalmarsson will have a hearing Monday for the hit on Ty Rattie.

The Blues announced that Rattie did not sustain an injury on the hit, which should help Hjalmarsson keep a possible suspension from being too long.

PTOut of Town

With players returned from the World Cup of Hockey, many players on tryouts (PTOs) at training camp are being released without new contracts.

The list of players released is headlined by defenseman James Wisniewski, who was released by the Tampa Bay Lightning, despite their need for a right-shot power play specialist on the blue line. Wisniewski is free to take a PTO with another team and may have some luck tracking down a deal, particularly with the number of teams who could use a little help on the right side.

Additionally, the Arizona Coyotes released Zach Boychuk, the Boston Bruins released Peter Mueller and the Flames have released Luke Adam.

Carter Hart Gets ELC

The Philadelphia Flyers have signed goaltender Carter Hart to a three-year, entry-level contract, the team announced Sunday. The 18-year-old was selected in the second round (48th overall) of the 2016 NHL Draft.

Hart will spend the season with the Everett Silvertips of the WHL, where he was the CHL goaltender of the year with a 35-23-4 record, 2.14 goals-against average and .918 save percentage through 63 games last year.

Lawson Crouse
Power forward Lawson Crouse skating with OHL Kingston. Photo: OHL Images

Rosters Continue to Get Trimmed

Many teams are trimming their rosters down significantly right now. Instead of listing the massive number of players reassigned to the AHL and junior clubs, let’s note a few who have not been reassigned.

The Nashville Predators have trimmed their roster down to 31 players. Still standing are 18-year-old defenseman Samuel Girard and 19-year-old Yakov Trenin. Also at camp is forward Kevin Fiala, who general manager David Poile has had a lot of praise for. At this point, it wouldn’t be all that surprising to see him on the opening night roster, helping the Predators continue to boost their offense. Russian forward Vladislav Kamenev is still there as well. He had a good debut in the AHL last year and was great at the 2016 World Junior Championship, where he captained Team Russia.

The Arizona Coyotes also made many cuts, sending promising young players like Brendan Perlini, Kyle Wood, Connor Garland and Ryan MacInnis to the American League. Still up with the NHL skaters are Jakob Chychrun, Christian Fisher, Lawson Crouse and Christian Dvorak. Chychrun is a longshot, but the other three could plausibly make a case with outstanding play. Dylan Strome is still up as well. He is expected to be on the opening night roster.

One last team with some interesting transactions: The Boston Bruins reassigned a lot of players Sunday, including putting Chris Casto, Tommy Cross and Alex Grant on waivers. But center Jake DeBrusk and defenseman Brandon Carlo, both 20, are still at training camp.

Odds and Ends

– The Toronto Maple Leafs have a new slogan up in their locker room. The slogan reads “Heart and Drive Lives Here.”

– Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Cody Goloubef will be out a few days with an unspecified injury, according to Aaron Portzline of the Columbus Dispatch.

– Noland Patrick of the Brandon Wheat Kings starts the season as the projected number one overall draft pick for the 2017 NHL Draft. Sunday, he put in a beauty for the Wheat Kings and showed off a bit of why scouts are so high on him.