In today’s NHL rumor rundown, there is news on the New York Rangers potentially having trouble signing Tony DeAngelo, there is interest by a few NHL teams in a KHL goaltender and P.K. Subban has floated the idea of an NHL game show to the league who is thinking about it. Finally, there is talk of the NHL holding a virtual draft and not postponing things.
Rangers Face Daunting Task with DeAngelo
Larry Brooks of the New York Post noted that the New York Rangers face what could be a daunting challenge to re-sign Tony DeAngelo this off-season. The soon-to-be restricted free agent is just 24 years old, scored 53 points in 68 games this season and could be asking for as little as $6 million per year on a long-term deal.
Different options could include a short-term bridge deal of around $5 million per season or, of course, the Rangers could trade DeAngelo from a position of strength and where they have some depth on the right side of the blue line. The Rangers would like to add a legit top-nine forward with top-six upside who would fill a position of weakness.
That said, Brooks notes the Rangers are concerned with potentially giving so much money to a player that could be third-pairing minutes behind Jacob Trouba and Adam Fox. The alternative is moving him to the left side.
Brooks also reports that Jesper Fast‘s future with the Rangers is in doubt. The 28-year-old winger will become an unrestricted free agent at the end of this season and nothing more than preliminary discussions with Fast’s camp have taken place. They failed to reach an agreement on a contract extension.
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Subban and the NHL Making a Game Show?
Dan Rosen recently tweeted that New Jersey Devils defenseman P.K. Subban and the NHL could be working on game show “to create content and bring some joy to people, give people something to laugh about.”
There is no better person in the NHL to host something like that than Subban. If the idea takes off, the NHL may come up with more content as one of their big concerns is keeping hockey in the minds of hockey fans.
Alexei Melnichuk on Many NHL Radars
KHL free agency opens on May 1 and there has been speculation a number of players jump to North America and take their shot at the NHL. Among them, young goaltender Alexei Melnichuk of SKA St. Petersburg is expected to get some attention, reportts TSN’s Darren Dreger.
Dreger adds that it is down to three or four teams competing for Melnichuk’s services and that, by the end of April, the goaltender while he whittled it down to just one team, likely based on opportunity to play. It is expected he would sign a standard entry-level deal.
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Controversy Brewing Over How to Resume Season
Frank Seravalli noted that Sidney Crosby said yesterday during conference call among representatives of each of the Metropolitan Division team that he “wouldn’t mind starting right with the playoffs” but “I think you try to get in as many games as you can. More games you play, I think that’s better for the integrity of it.” Alex Ovechkin was more straight to the point saying, he “was bored” and the Capitals wanted to get right into the postseason.
There were other team reps that said going straight into the playoffs was best but some teams that were on the outside looking in, but still felt they had a shot at it, wanted the rest of the regular season.
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A Virtual NHL Draft?
Pierre LeBrun wrote a column for The Athletic taking a look at the optios for the upcoming NHL Entry Draft. He notes that the least likely play would be to push back the draft and still hold it in Montreal.
Instead, he’s under the impression a virtual draft would take place and that’s the outcome most insiders see occurring. Steve Mayer, the NHL’s Chief Content Officer noted the NHL was looking at a virutal draft and said:
“Which is probably, you know, one of the more likely (scenarios) at this point, given where we are in the world. We’d have cameras set up in every war room. Bring in as many prospects as we can. Have a team representative, etc.’’
source – ‘LeBrun: NHL weighs options for this year’s draft, assures Montreal another chance’ Pierre LeBrun – The Athletic – 03/26/2020
All this said, Mayer also noted the NHL has not made up their minds and they are looking at a number of possibilities.
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