With the NHL season, finally, underway, many teams have turned their attention to on the ice. Still, many NHL rumours remain floating around. As long as they remain, the Last Word on Hockey crew will continue to keep fans updated. In today’s edition, we’ll cover NHL rumours surrounding the Edmonton Oilers, Ottawa Senators, and New York Islanders.
NHL Rumours
Edmonton Oilers
Rumour: The Oilers remain popular in NHL rumours. In a recent edition of Insider Trading, the crew at TSN pondered how the Oilers would replace defenceman Adam Larsson, who recently succumbed to an ankle injury.
Analysis: The group didn’t seem to have much of an answer. Bob McKenzie noted a fairly simple reasoning behind this: no available defencemen can replace Larsson. He records top-line minutes alongside Darnell Nurse, forming a very strong, “shut-down” pairing, as McKenzie notes.
Many teams aren’t shopping around their defencemen anymore. Justin Faulk was on the market with the Carolina Hurricanes for a while but was recently reeled in by the St. Louis Blues, leaving New York’s Thomas Hickey as one of the only defencemen on the trading block. Hickey was sent through waivers and to the AHL before the beginning of the season. His modest $2.5 million cap hit doesn’t very much reflect his recent play. He sat out of most of the 2018-19 season with injury, playing in only 40 games. In those, he scored a mere four points. This was a far cry from the 20-point-consistency he had established in prior years.
In short, Hickey is far from the best option to fill in for Larsson in Edmonton. With seemingly no other options available via trade, it seems the Oilers will have to fill this void internally. McKenzie proposes one way to do this. “Bring in Kris Russell up from the third pair, put him [into] Larsson’s spot with Nurse. Continue to have the second pair that you planned on having with Oscar Klefbom and Ethan Bear and away you go.” This seems like the undeniable best plan for Edmonton. The team also recalled William Lagesson, who could fight his way into Russel’s third-line spot if the Oilers follow McKenzie’s advice.
Ottawa Senators
Rumour: The Senators assigned Logan Brown to the AHL prior to the start of the season. This assignment was taken well by Brown but angered his agent, who told TSN 1200 that Brown hasn’t been placed in a position to succeed in Ottawa. With the league’s recent storm of young talent, Brown may need to find a way out of Ottawa before he can truly blossom.
Analysis: Ottawa’s lack of faith in Brown has infuriated his agent Andy Scott. Scott also manages young stars in Leon Draisaitl and Kaapo Kakko and noted that Brown has seen very limited NHL opportunity since being drafted into the league in 2016. While Scott’s other clients played in top-line minutes, alongside star NHL players, to start their careers, Brown has managed only six career NHL games. He has a sole assist in those games, playing a surprisingly low average of just under nine minutes a game. For a player who was drafted 11th overall in his respective NHL Draft, this is a far cry from a chance to succeed.
The team has clearly upset Scott. He even commented on the slogan that’s become increasingly associated with the team, “the kids are alright”. Scott pondered that if the “kids” are alright, why isn’t the 21-year-old Brown receiving NHL minutes? With so much unease, Scott is undoubtedly running out of patience with the Senators. If Brown doesn’t manage to see consistent NHL time soon, the player may find his way into a situation similar to that of Jesse Puljujarvi in Edmonton.
With that said, Scott did praise new head coach D.J. Smith. “This coach has a track record of really working with young players and getting the most out of them and I think he’ll be very, very good for Logan, very good for Ottawa,” he said. He also noted Brown’s patience and said he has remained positive despite everything. He finished his spiel by saying that he believes Brown will find his groove soon and that he is excited for the day the team finally embraces Brown’s potential.
New York Islanders
Rumour: In the aforementioned Insider Trading, Pierre LeBrun went into depth on how negotiations between the Islanders and Mathew Barzal could go. He noted that many teams around the league are looking to be proactive with their pending restricted free agents. This is in an effort to avoid the RFA-drama teams faced this summer.
Analysis: The Islanders are surely one of the most active teams in the league on this front. Barzal’s entry-level contract expires after this season and he’ll surely demand top-dollar on a new deal. He has become the dominant force in New York in recent years. Because of this, Dreger says he believes Barzal will be the highest-paid among all of the pending-RFAs.
This is no surprise and Barzal couldn’t have a better time to boast such an accolade. Recent star-signings, like Mitch Marner and Auston Matthews‘ new deals, will surely aid in negotiations between the Islanders and Barzal. Dreger notes that both deals will likely be used as comparables in early contract talks and it is clear to see why. Barzal netted 85 points in the 2017-18 season. This strong showing won him the 2018 Calder Memorial Trophy as the league’s top rookie. Last year, he fell to a still dominant 62 points. Despite this fall, Barzal is the centerpiece of a young Islanders roster. He is the most crucial piece of the puzzle for the Islanders as they look to build off of the success they found last season.
Because of this, Matthews and Marner’s deals seem like healthy comparisons. All three players are crucial to their respective teams and elite, young talents. It would be no surprise to see Barzal join the two in the small group of players with a double-digit cap hit. With that said, Dreger notes that Barzal would likely be happy with an extension similar to that of Mikko Rantanen. Rantanen recently signed a six-year deal with the Colorado Avalanche, with a cap hit of $9.25 million.
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