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NHL Rumours: Toronto Maple Leafs, Mitch Marner, Winnipeg Jets, and More

The catalyst of many NHL Rumours, Mitch Marner, stretches before a game.

With the window for teams to talk to both to RFAs and UFAs now open, the NHL Rumours are plentiful. New information is swirling around teams and players alike. Last Word on Hockey continues to cover all NHL rumours around the league, as the July 1st date comes closer. In today’s second edition of NHL rumours, we look at rumours surrounding the Toronto Maple Leafs, Winnipeg Jets, Joe Pavelski, and Thomas Vanek.

NHL Rumours

Toronto Maple Leafs

Rumour: David Pagnotta reported that the Toronto Maple Leafs may be one of many teams interested in Vancouver Canucks free agent Ben Hutton.

Analysis: It’s no shock to see the Leafs pursuing Hutton. Hutton was one of five Canuks RFAs to not receive a qualifying offer. Among the other four are Brendan Gaunce and Derrick Pouliot. The Canucks likely let such well-known names walk as part of a desire to make changes to a team that missed the playoffs again last season. They also look to create salary cap space. They have roughly $15.5 million in space and will hope to re-sign Brock Boeser and add talent to the roster.

Hutton would be a great addition to the Leafs lineup. With Jake Gardiner potentially on the way out, the team will need to add to their blueline group. While Hutton is by no means as good as Gardiner, he is still a great depth addition. Last season, he tallied 20 points in 69 games last year. With his play, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see this point total steadily climb with a new team. The 26-year-old defenceman had his fair share of struggles in the defensive end but was a difference maker in the offensive zone. With the right team around him, there is seemingly a fair amount of untapped potential.

Toronto Maple Leafs

Rumour: The NHL rumours in Toronto don’t end with Hutton. It was also reported by TSN’s Darren Dreger that multiple teams are speculated to have reached out to Mitch Marner. Despite this, Marner’s camp is still in regular discussions with the Leafs organization.

Analysis: While this may seem like inconsequential news, it does provide one answer: teams would seemingly be willing to send an offer sheet to Marner. The open market could be fairly unforgiving to the young star who has been rumoured to be looking for a big contract with his negotiations thus far. It’s likely that any offer sheet extended would cost the signing team four first-round picks in compensation.

The drama around Marner continues to swirl, with many going back and forth on his worthiness of a $10 million AAV or more deal. Elliotte Friedman reported in mid-June that Marner was potentially looking for a cap hit around $11 million. He also said that he doesn’t believe Marner is willing to commit to a long-term deal, stretching over seven or eight years.

All prospective teams have likely been made aware of these contract restraints. It’s safe to assume that Marner’s camp is working on two ends. While Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas looks to widdle away at those restraints and re-sign Marner, the star forward is likely also looking for any team willing to agree to those terms. It will be a race to see which end of the wick burns quicker. Fans will be at bay, waiting to see if Dubas can talk down Marner before another team agrees to his terms. Contracts for similar players, like Brayden Point, will also become crucial factors in Marner’s decision.

Winnipeg Jets

Rumour: The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun reports that Kyle Connor has also had a fairly eventful start to the discussion window. While Connor is still likely to return to Winnipeg, many other teams are hoping to sway that decision.

Analysis: We reported yesterday that the Winnipeg Jets intended to match any offer sheets extended to either Connor or Patrik Laine. With recent updates, it seems like Winnipeg might have to put their money where their mouth is. Connor is a hot-topic free agent. With so much press surrounding high-end players like Artemi Panarin, Marner, and Matt Duchene, it’s been very easy to forget about Winnipeg’s cap issues.

The Jets have $23 million in cap space but have just 14 players under contract on their NHL roster, according to CapFriendly. Among this list are players likely to receive top-dollar deals like Laine, and Connor. The Jets might also need to replace unrestricted free agent Tyler Myers. Adding to the issue is the host of moderately priced free agents in Winnipeg. This includes players like Andrew Copp and newly-acquired Neal Pionk. While they will likely receive modest deals, the combined totals could severely dent the team’s chances of re-signing their stars.

Connor is a great player to pursue for any team looking for a young player to man their top-six. He is coming off of yet another strong year, where he tallied 66 points in 82 games. This was nine more than his 2017-18 total. Connor is also a two-time 30-goal scorer. The 22-year-old continues to show his prowess in the league and could make a considerable impact for any team that is able to successfully offer sheet him.

Joe Pavelski

Rumour: LeBrun also reported that Joe Pavelski met with the Dallas Stars and Tampa Bay Lightning on Wednesday. He mentions that a third, unknown team, may also have arranged an in-person meeting, while many others have spoken with Pavelski over the phone.

Analysis: Pavelski has been ostracized out of San Jose despite captaining the team since 2015. With the pricey extension given to Erik Karlsson, and players like Timo Meier, Kevin Labanc, and Joe Thornton still without contracts, it seems like Pavelski is the odd-man-out. This is especially considering the fact that San Jose has a mere $14 million in cap room to re-sign said players.

As a result, Pavelski is beginning his trip around the league. He’d be an amazing addition to any roster, proving to be an elite goal-scorer even at his age. He placed fourth in our ranking of the top 10 UFA forwards.

What’s interesting are Pavelski’s choices so far. He has met with both Dallas and Tampa thus far. Meanwhile, other teams are kept to a simple phone meeting. While this is almost certainly a result of travel plans, it’s hard not to speculate a bit. With the 34-year-old Pavelski likely signing his last contract before retirement, it wouldn’t be a shock to see him joining a strong roster like Tampa in hopes of winning his first Stanley Cup. The questions arise when looking at whether this Cup-chasing will require he takes a discount or not.

Thomas Vanek

Rumour: The Athletic’s Max Bultman reported that Thomas Vanek is likely leaving the Detroit Red Wings this summer. He says that Vanek has already begun talking with other teams.

Analysis: This is, again, no surprise. The journeyman Vanek was expected to be on his way out of Detroit for quite some time. This simply seems to be the confirmation. The Red Wings are looking towards a new, young core to spark a rebuild, something Vanek is fairly out-of-place in.

Still, Vanek is another great player for teams that don’t mind his age. He has proven that he can still produce regularly, netting over 40 points in four of the last six seasons. Last year, he recorded 36 points in 64 games with Detroit. Of those 36 points, a respectable 16 were goals. These numbers are great for prospective teams to see, proving that Vanek’s age has yet to get the best of him. Despite not getting much press thus far, Vanek will be an exciting name to follow as July 1st rolls around. His last contract, signed last summer, had a $3 million cap hit. Whether he’ll receive close to that number again is up-for-debate.

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Gabriel Foley

Gabriel Foley

Gabriel Foley serves as the Senior Editor and SEO Analyst for Last Word on Hockey. He is nearing his 7-year anniversary at the site and is one of the crew's many NHL Draft experts, on top of covering the St. Louis Blues and Buffalo Sabres.

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