In today’s NHL rumors rundown, the Calgary Flames have their sights set on a few key pieces, while the Los Angeles Kings could be looking for a defenseman. There is news on when Jack Eichel might actually be ready to play for the Vegas Golden Knights and there could be a few trades coming out of Ottawa. Are the Vancouver Canucks serious about a J.T. Miller trade? Finally, the Edmonton Oilers made some moves on paper. Are they clearing space for a big trade?
Flames Have a Few Specific Needs
As per Dan Rosen of NHL.com, the Calgary Flames should be looking for a puck-moving defenseman and a top-six forward. Among the potential blue line candidates are Seattle Kraken’s Mark Giordano and Dallas Stars’ defenseman John Klingberg.
As for forwards, Tyler Toffoli of the Montreal Canadiens, Josh Bailey of the New York Islanders, Jordan Eberle of the Kraken, Tomas Tatar of the New Jersey Devils and Gustav Nyquist of the Columbus Blue Jackets made his list.
Kings Also Looking to Improve Blue Line
Rosen noted the Los Angeles Kings are another team that could try to add an asset to their blue line. Klingberg also fits the bill and LA could be one of the many players on Jakob Chychrun of the Arizona Coyotes. Rosen believes Chychrun would be the better fit and the Kings might have the prospects and picks to make such a move.
Eichel Not Close to Return
Despite the fact that he’s skating and will travel with the team, center Jack Eichel is potentially still months away from making his debut with the Vegas Golden Knights. Head coach Peter DeBoer said this week, “It’s going to be at least a month or two months before he plays.” Part of the reason he’ll be traveling with the team on their upcoming road trip is simply to be around the guys and team build.
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This is a different timeline than the one offered by Golden Knights owner Bill Foley who said Eichel could make his debut with Vegas in “a few weeks.” Originally, Eichel was shooting for mid-February. If it’s mid-March when he returns, it will likely be because the Golden Knights didn’t want to rush things.
Senators Should Move Multiple Pieces
While he’s not suggesting he’s heard that the Senators are looking to do so, Shawn Simpson of TSN believes the Ottawa Senators should consider trading forwards Chris Tierney and Zach Sanford, plus defenseman Nick Holden and forward Nick Paul, if the team isn’t thinking about re-signing that latter two.
Simpson acknowledges the returns won’t be great but they could provide the Senators with extra draft picks and prospects, which is always a bonus.
Canucks Could Trade J.T. Miller
Thomas Drance of The Athletic discussed Frank Seravalli’s report suggesting the Canucks could trade J.T. Miller before the team officially hires a new general manager. While he does admit the organization will have to make a decision sooner than later, Drance isn’t sold on the idea.
He does notes there are teams interested in Miller but it might take an offer too good to refuse for the Canucks to pull the trigger on a trade right away. Instead, the forward could get moved in the offseason when other teams have more salary-cap space.
Are the Oilers Clearing Cap Space?
While moving Ryan Nugent-Hopkins to LTIR and waiving Kyle Turris might feel like big cap space moves for the Oilers to potentially make a deal, don’t expect the team to pull the trigger on a big trade. Nugent-Hopkins on LTIR gets the Oilers $5.6 million of cap space and without Turris, the team will get another $1.125 million, but Ilya Konovalov will now count towards the cap as he’s no longer an emergency call up and Nugent-Hopkins’ LTIR stint of at least 10 games will start pro-active of the day he was injured (December 31).
Keep in mind, the extra $5.125 million the Oilers get from Nuge on LTIR can only be spent if he’s out for the remainder of the regular season. Should the Oilers reactivate him, they would have to make room on the cap again. What these moves do allow for is the opportunity to call up a forward or a defenseman if needed in the short term. It is expected the Oilers will do so.