In today’s NHL rumors rundown, the Chicago Blackhawks have waived Corey Perry with the intent of terminating his contract if he’s not claimed. GM Kyle Davidson spoke about the decision on Tuesday. After the Perry situation was addressed, the Blackhawks made a trade with the Vancouver Canucks. In Toronto, there is concern after Mark Giordano left the game with an injury. Are the Leafs going to pursue a trade with the Calgary Flames and are the Flames going to be interested?
Corey Perry Waived By Blackhawks
The Blackhawks announced that they were waiving Perry and if he wasn’t claimed, they would go about starting the process to terminate his contract. That would make Perry an unrestricted free agent, but it’s not clear how quickly he’ll find another NHL job, if at all.
Davidson addressed the media on Tuesday about the decision and noted that the team couldn’t get into details about what Perry did to warrant being removed from the team. He did say that rumors suggesting it had anything to do with a teammate or their families — a rumor that was circulating the past couple of days — were completely inaccurate. He also called those rumors disgusting.
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Emily Kaplan of ESPN noted that Davidson wouldn’t give details to reporters, but did confirm, “It was a workplace matter.” Nick Foligno said, “It is hard. It’s life, right? It’s outside the hockey. … We don’t have a ton of details, other than we just know it was something that was obviously needing to be terminated in his contract.”
Blackhawks Add Beauvillier From Canucks
Later in the day, Chicago made a trade with the Vancouver Canucks. The Blackhawks added Anthony Beauvillier and gave up a fifth-round pick. The reason seems to be that Chicago needs forwards to take the place of Taylor Hall and now Perry, both of whom are gone for the year.
The Canucks have been trying to ship Beauvillier off for some time. Because of his salary, they weren’t able to get anything done. Now, with Perry’s cap hit coming off of the Blackhawks’ books, the team had no issues taking on Beauvillier’s $4.15 million salary.
Giordano’s Injury Means the Maple Leafs Need to Make a Move
In Tuesday’s game against the Florida Panthers, Mark Giordano exited in the first period due to a lower-body injury. Keefe suggested Giordano was going to “miss some time” and that leaves the Maple Leafs with serious defensive challenges. Less than two months into the season, half of their top-six defense from the opening night is sidelined.
Understandably, the Maple Leafs face a pressing need for a resolution on John Klingberg’s status. Securing information on his injury is essential for the Leafs to fortify their blue line. Once they know what they can do, they will focus on making a trade. Joshua Kloke of The Athletic writes:
Yes, a swap with the Calgary Flames makes sense on paper. There are connections between both general managers. Hulking defenceman Nikita Zadorov has reportedly asked for a trade out of Alberta. Chris Tanev is a Toronto product, too. Both fit the bill for the kind of defenceman Treliving would covet, though a case could be made that with Klingberg and Liljegren out, a puck mover wouldn’t hurt, either.
source – What the loss of Mark Giordano could mean for the Maple Leafs’ – Joshua Kloke – The Athletic – 11/28/2023
Flames Might Not Want to Make a Trade Right Now
As much as the defensemen on the Flames roster will be coveted by other teams, it’s crucial to bear in mind that the Flames are making significant strides in the standings. They are in close proximity to securing a wild-card spot in the Western Conference. As such, it’s reasonable to assume they aren’t in a rush to dump useful players.
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Eric Francis of Sportsnet notes, “Fighting their way back into the race means all decisions on UFA signings or trades of players like Elias Lindholm, Noah Hanifin, Nikita Zadorov and Chris Tanev are almost certainly on hold until at least the midway mark of the season.”