Now that the season has commenced there remain moves that teams need to make due to injuries or roster needs not yet addressed. We will dig into some NHL rumours here as we check in with what is going on with the Pittsburgh Penguins, Arizona Coyotes, and New Jersey Devils.
NHL Rumours
Pittsburgh Penguins
Rumour: Pierre LeBrun reports that the Pittsburgh Penguins are still carrying nine defencemen and GM Jim Rutherford is still trying to move one of them. The Penguins have gotten off to a better than expected start without the services of Evgeni Malkin and Nick Bjugstad out due to injuries. The defenceman they may move is Erik Gudbranson.
Analysis: One team who could be interested in Gudbranson (6’5″, 217 pounds) could be the blueline depleted Winnipeg Jets. They, unfortunately, can’t move forward without knowing the status of Dustin Byfuglien. If Byfuglien decides to return, their $6.6 million cap space will be gone.
Another team that could be interested is the Anaheim Ducks. They are seeking a right-shot defenceman but Gudbranson’s $4 million cap hit may not be in their budget. Gudbranson had only two goals and 10 points while playing mostly for the Vancouver Canucks last season. With his size, he handed out 184 hits and blocked 84 shots.
Pittsburgh Penguins – Rumour #2
Rumour: Dan Kingerski from Pittsburgh Hockey Now reports that a source claimed that the Penguins were kicking the tires on Joshua Ho-Sang. The New York Islanders winger cleared waivers two weeks ago and has requested a trade. Kingerski mentioned that his source said the discussion was an initial contact at this point.
Analysis: The Penguins need some depth scoring with Malkin being hurt long-term. Ho-Sang who is 23-years-old has not played much and seems to want a change of scenery. He has seven goals, 24 points in 53 NHL games. It is not yet known what the Islanders may want back in any kind of deal for Ho-Sang but he has some potential and playing in Pittsburgh may be just what could ignite his young career.
Arizona Coyotes
Rumour: Pierre LeBrun also mentioned that the Coyotes lost their shot-blocking specialist when Niklas Hjalmarsson succumbed to a blast off the stick of the Colorado Avalanche‘s Erik Johnson. It appears that the Coyotes may intend to fill the gap within their organization by either using Kyle Cabobianco or Ilya Lyubushkin.
Analysis: While having the two young defencemen fill in for the injured Hjalmarsson even if it is a projected three month period of time. Cabobianco has just played three NHL games over the last two seasons and has yet to register a point. Lyubuskin, on the other hand, has played in 41 games and is a right-hand shot.
While this may solve the gap on the blueline for the Desert Dogs, they still may need to address their weak offence. They rank dead last in goals scored with just seven tallies in four games. The team has about $2.4 million in cap space while using the long-term injury reserve money allotted to them.
Could they explore acquiring another scoring forward to supplement the offence? Perhaps they could even have some interest in Ho-Sang who carries just an $874,125 cap hit until his entry-level contract expires after this season. He’s young, and fast and could fit in well on the Coyotes’ roster.
New Jersey Devils
Rumour: Pierre LeBrun continues with NHL rumours when he mentioned that there’s no indication yet that the struggling New Jersey Devils are looking for any help but they could if things don’t change with their less than appealing early-season performance.
Analysis: The New Jersey Devils had lots of reasons to be optimistic this new season. They added the first overall pick in Jack Hughes and acquired P.K. Subban and Wayne Simmonds. They also acquired Nikita Gusev. So what happened? It seems that the team is just not executing and head coach John Hynes is sitting on the hot seat wondering if his job is safe. They blew a four-goal lead in their opener to the Winnipeg Jets. They duplicated that charade when they threw away a 4-1 to the Florida Panthers last week. There have been chants of “FIRE HYNES” and that’s never a good thing especially this early in the season.
The defence has not been acceptable with them allowing the most goals in the NHL. They could have some interest in Gudbranson to help on the blueline. The main disappointment may be Hughes. He has been held scoreless in six games and when he gets going the team may see some success.
Could it be that Hynes is not using his players to get the utmost from their capabilities? If this downward trend continues it may affect Taylor Hall‘s decision to stay or seek another team when his contract expires next summer.
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