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NHL Rumours: Pittsburgh Penguins, Boston Bruins, Chicago Blackhawks

nhl rumours

Welcome to Tuesday’s edition of NHL rumours where we look at potential moves teams may make this off-season. Today we have NHL rumours from the Pittsburgh Penguins, Boston Bruins, Chicago Blackhawks, and the Vancouver Canucks.

NHL Rumours

Pittsburgh Penguins

Rumour: Dan Kingerski of pittsburghhockeynow.com says that a league source has said the Pittsburgh Penguins could look at signing Wayne Simmonds this summer. He goes on to say that the rumour is not coming from Simmonds or the Penguins directly, but from colleagues of those parties.

Analysis: It would make a ton of sense for the Penguins to look to bulk up this off-season. The team does not have a ton of size outside of Patric Hornqvist and Zach Aston-Reese on the wing. Most of the Penguins wingers are small and skilled and they just added to this by picking up Dominik Kahun from the Blackhawks in exchange for Olli Maatta. Simmonds would go back to a division he’s familiar with, as he spent seven seasons in Philadelphia.

Simmonds is a proven goal scorer and could slot into the Penguins top nine. He should command a cap hit between $3 million to $5 million per season. Surely the Penguins would love to slot him next to Sidney Crosby, where he would most certainly hit the 20 goal plateau again, after having a down year last season.

Boston Bruins

Rumour: The next hit in our NHL Rumours segment comes from Joe Haggerty of NBC Sports. He stated in a recent article that with Torey Krug‘s value being at an all-time high right now, GM Don Sweeney may look to trade him in order to acquire a top-six forward.

Analysis: Haggerty makes this suggestion based on the fact that the Bruins need a power forward with some goal scoring ability to jump into the Bruins top six. The logic is there after watching the St. Louis Blues hoist the Stanley Cup. However, according to capfriendly.com, the Bruins have just over $14 million in cap space. Most of that cash will be taken after they re-sign Charlie McAvoy and Brandon Carlo. Leaving Danton Heinen, Noel Acciari, Marcus Johansson and Steven Kampfer unsigned.

If Krug is dealt with a significant player coming back, the Bruins will have to get creative. A separate move will need to be made in order to clear some cap space. Potentially trading David Krejci, who has two years remaining on his current deal with an AAV of $7.25 million. Buying out the final two years of David Backes‘ contract could work too.

Chicago Blackhawks

Rumour: In an article by Tracey Myers on NHL.com, Myers states that even though they acquired Olli Maatta, that is only the beginning of a very busy off-season for the Blackhawks. 

Analysis: Myers quotes Bowman saying “We want to find some new players for our team. Whether that’s through trade or free agency, it doesn’t matter too much. Right now, the trade chatter has been pretty active throughout the League. I’ve been in a number of conversations, and I expect that to continue over the next week.”

The Blackhawks have missed the playoffs in back to back seasons and are hoping to salvage the final prime years of the careers of Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews by making some big moves to improve the team this off-season. They have been rumoured to be planning to take a run at former Blackhawk Artemi Panarin as well as improving the defence further.

Vancouver Canucks

Rumour: Rick Dhaliwal of Sportsnet 650 reported via Twitter that it does not sound like Alex Edler will be returning to the Vancouver Canucks next season.

Analysis: It’s the end of the run for the star defenceman in Vancouver. Edler was originally drafted by the Canucks in 2004 and has spent his entire career with the organization. It was reported earlier last week that Canucks GM Jim Benning was not comfortable giving Edler anything more than a two or three-year deal which is probably why we’re seeing Edler hit the open market. Edler surely wants some stability. At this point in his career, the term is most likely more important than money.

Dhaliwal also followed up this tweet by stating there is a lot of chatter of the Canucks wanting to take a run at Tyler Myers or Jake Gardiner. Both would be younger options than Edler but will certainly command term and more money. The market is expected to be heavy for both of these pending free agents. However, the Canucks have a ton of cap space to work with and could potentially offer them the most money.

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