Welcome back to another segment of NHL Trade Rumours. Where Last Word On Hockey rounds up all the latest NHL trade rumours and puts them in one nice place. As the deadline is fast approaching expect these rumours to keep up. Today, we look at NHL Trade rumours from the Edmonton Oilers, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Montreal Canadiens.
NHL Trade Rumours
Edmonton Oilers
Rumour: TSN’s Ryan Rishaug reported that the Oilers would still be interested in dealing 2016 first-round pick, Jesse Puljujarvi. However, the Oilers are no longer actively pushing for a trade involving Puljujarvi and will be asking for a considerable return.
Oilers had discussion with Markus Lehto, agent for Jesse Puljujarvi today. Team is open to trading him if a proper return can be found, and in the meantime an AHL stint to help boost offence and confidence is being considered. No decisions yet.
— Ryan Rishaug (@TSNRyanRishaug) February 15, 2019
I think the return needed to convince the Oilers to trade Puljujarvi would be quite high. Team still believes in the player and if return isn’t what they want they’ll be happy to sit tight and continue working with him.
— Ryan Rishaug (@TSNRyanRishaug) February 15, 2019
The Oilers have been surrounded by talks of a Puljujarvi trade all year. The 20-year-old has only managed nine points in 45 games this year, a clear far cry from how fans hoped he’d perform. He’s been disappointing beyond this year, though. In his 138 NHL games to date, he’s scored 40 points. Half of these points came in 65 games last season.
Puljujarvi has value, as do most players picked in the top-five of their draft class. The Oilers will clearly be looking to exploit this value in a trade, aiming for the stars with the return. However, The Athletic’s Allan Mitchell reports that this may not be so likely. In his piece, Mitchell notes that the Oilers will likely have to sweeten any trade offer by also adding in one of their spare defensemen, like Matt Benning, or an extra forward like Jujhar Khaira. Simply put, Puljujarvi’s disappointing play outweighs the value that his top-five label brings to the table.
Toronto Maple Leafs
Rumour: While it isn’t much of a trade rumor, it has been reported that contract talks between Kasperi Kapanen and the Leafs are likely to start up sometime next week. This was again reported by TSN’s Staff during their insider trading discussions on Thursday.
Analysis: The important part of these contract talks is that other teams will likely be breathing down the Leafs necks about Kapanen. Toronto is in salary cap turmoil right now, fighting to sign Mitch Marner to a team-friendly deal that would also allow them to sign Kapanen and Andreas Johnsson.
There are a lot of outcomes that could see the Leafs losing one of these three mentioned players due to cap issues. With the Leafs financial issues and Kapanen’s 36 points in 57 games, he’s become a very popular trade-option for many teams. He would also be very likely to be offer-sheeted this summer if Toronto can’t sign him soon enough. Because of this, general manager Kyle Dubas will surely be looking to advance contract talks as quickly as possible. Talking money with Kapanen could also help the team find out how much they can truly spend on Marner.
Montreal Canadiens
Rumour: According to Sportsnet’s Eric Engels, there is buzz growing that general manager Marc Bergevin is looking for a top-four defenceman. He is looking to replace Mike Reilly in the spot next to Jeff Petry.
Analysis: The Canadiens have long been stronger on the right side than on the left. For a long time, it seemed that they were looking for a partner for Shea Weber. However, over the last month or so, 20-year-old Victor Mete has really stepped up and taken on that role. Petry has had a great season, taking over the top defence spot while Weber was hurt, and continuing to put up points after his return. His partner, Reilly, acquired at last year’s deadline, has been inconsistent. At times he looks like a legitimate top-four defender. At other times he makes the type of mistakes that land a defender in the press box.
Head coach Claude Julien has recently said that Reilly has improved his game and is better than he was prior to being healthy scratched for five straight games in November. However, there continue to be questions if his better is good enough to be a top-four defenceman going forward. It is something the Canadiens will be watching closely over the next week or so, prior to the deadline.
Main Photo: EDMONTON, AB – NOVEMBER 29: Jesse Puljujarvi #98 of the Edmonton Oilers skates against Mitch Marner #16 and Tyler Bozak #42 of the Toronto Maple Leafs on November 29, 2016 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. (Photo by Codie McLachlan/Getty Images)
