In today’s NHL rumors rundown, a former San Jose Sharks GM is looking to make his return to the NHL. Could the Pittsburgh Penguins or Philadelphia Flyers be looking at him? There is chatter about the offseason plans for the Montreal Canadiens, the Calgary Flames will take their time looking for a new GM and the Winnipeg Jets have lost Josh Morrissey for the series versus the Vegas Golden Knights.
Doug Wilson Looking to Make NHL Comeback
Sheng Peng of San Jose Hockey Now cited NHL insider Elliotte Friedman’s report on The Jeff Marek Show that former San Jose Sharks GM Doug Wilson is looking to make a return to the NHL. It’s not clear what role he’s hoping to take on with an organization or which team he’s eyeing for his return, but Friedman noted, “I have heard that he’s been improving. And he’s looking to return to the game in some capacity.” For medical reasons, Wilson stepped away from the Sharks in 2022.
Friedman also noted that Wilson’s name has been mentioned in connection to the Flyers’ Presidency vacancy. He also noted he might be on a list of names that the Pittsburgh Penguins will look at for their President of Hockey Operations role.
Offseason Plans for the Canadiens
Eric Engels of Sportsnet sees Mike Hoffman and Joel Armia of the Montreal Canadiens as the organization’s only two buyout candidates. He does wonder if they’ll look at that option heading into next season since trading either could prove difficult. Hoffman has a year remaining with a $4.5 million cap hit while Armia has two years remaining with an average annual value of $3.5 million.
Engels also believes the Canadiens will explore a Joel Edmundson trade, and could shop Josh Anderson despite the fact that Anderson said he’d like to remain with the team.
As for the goaltending situation, Engels writes, “I think the Canadiens will look at every opportunity available to them to improve their goaltending. I think they’ll hope to draft some quality goaltenders, and I think they’ll explore both the trade and free markets for quality goaltenders.” That could mean trading Jake Allen because he notes, “I can say with 99.9 percent certainty they won’t be trading Samuel Montembeault.”
Finally, Engels believes that Pierre-Luc Dubois’ playoff performance thus far has only increased the odds that the Canadiens could make a pitch for him ahead of his being eligible to sign with the team as a free agent. GM Kent Hughes will probably look to make a trade early, but that will depend on the acquisition cost. Engels writes, “If the cost to acquire Dubois this summer proves too prohibitive, perhaps they’ll roll the dice and wait. Because paying for his new contract, on top of paying a big price through trade, might not be worth it.”
No Timeline For New Flames GM
Eric Francis of Sportsnet is reporting that the Calgary Flames will take their time looking for a new general manager and that there is no timeline set on hiring for the position left vacant by the exit of Brad Treliving. President and interim GM Don Maloney suggested the list of candidates for the Flames is long and he will sort through it with assistant GMs Craig Conroy and Brad Pascall.
Related: NHL Rumors: Canucks, Sabres, Red Wings
On the list of priorities for any new hire is someone who can effectively change the culture of the team. That could be challenging considering the key person in the room that will promote the right culture is the coach and the Flames chose to keep Darryl Sutter — who also happened to be the key motivating factor behind Treliving’s decision to leave.
Morrisey Done for Series?
As per a few sources: “Rick Bowness just said defenseman Josh Morrissey is done for the series with a lower-body injury.” Morrisey left the game on Saturday with a lower-body injury but there weren’t many reports on his condition. This is a huge loss for the Jets who made a massive comeback in the game versus the Golden Knights but wound up losing in overtime.
