Welcome back to the Tuesday edition of NHL Rumours! The NHL season continues to roll on. Even with the schedule being rearranged because of postponements, teams are still looking to add a piece or two for the march towards the playoffs. Heck, some teams will have to move pieces out of necessity. The crew at Last Word on Hockey has you covered with the best analysis. In today’s edition of NHL Rumours looks at the Pittsburgh Penguins, Boston Bruins, and the latest on the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
NHL Rumours
Pittsburgh Penguins
Rumour: Rob Rossi of The Athletic writes once Mike Matheson is healthy, the Penguins will look to trade him as they do not see him more than a seventh or eighth defenceman on the team.
Analysis: Before Jim Rutherford resigned as Penguins general manager this was one of his more interesting moves, to say the least. And while the Penguins needed help on defence, many people shook their heads as to why Matheson. Not only that they gave up a pretty good player in Patric Hornqvist in the deal for a guy who has six years left on a deal that carries a salary-cap hit of $4.85 million. Matheson has only played three games this season and was just activated off injured reserve after missing the previous eight games with an undisclosed injury. In the three games, he has played this season he has not registered a single point.
This is not what the Penguins expected when they got him from Florida. Not to mention, when the Penguins are healthy they have better options in front of him.
As Rossi points out they have Pierre-Olivier Joseph already in the lineup and they do not want to take him out. In his seven games, Joseph has five points including a goal. Having Matheson in the lineup only blocks Joseph more from playing in the lineup. Since Joseph is the future of the defence, the team will need to figure out a way to move Matheson. But it may cost them assets. Besides retaining some salary, the Penguins may have to give up a pick or prospect or both for someone to take on Matheson and that deal.
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Boston Bruins
Rumour: Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet on his 31 Thoughts Podcast mentions the Bruins have been showing some interest in Vancouver Canucks forward Jake Virtanen.
Friedman on 31 Thoughts podcast: “I think one of the teams that has been sniffing around Virtanen is Boston…I think Ottawa’s been a team that has had some interest with Virtanen in the past, that might be easier cause it’s Canada.” #Canucks #NHLBruins #GoSensGo
— NHL Watcher (@NHL_Watcher) February 8, 2021
Analysis: As we have mentioned previously, the Canucks are looking to ship Virtanen. He has not done much with the Canucks this season. He has one goal in 11 games. And ever since he was drafted in the first round of the 2014 NHL Draft, he has not really lived up to the hype. The 24-year-old sixth overall pick has 96 points (51 goals and 45 assists) in 290 career games. Those stats are not that of a sixth overall pick. However, if the Canucks were to trade him, they would be selling at a low point. This is in part due to Virtanen not helping his trade value. He has not played great at all to begin the season. And the Canucks would be selling and hoping a team will take him.
That team might just be the Bruins. They are always looking for depth at the forward position. The problem is the Bruins are up against the salary cap. If Boston were to get this deal done, they will want the Canucks to eat a portion of the $2.55 million Virtanen makes this season. The question is what would the Bruins give up for Virtanen? Well, they like what they have up front and in their system. The most Vancouver might get is a draft pick. As previously mentioned, Virtanen is an asset with low value right now. The Canucks might be forced just to give him away.
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2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs
Rumour: Darren Dreger on TSN says the NHL may have to pushback to the start of the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs due to all the games being postponed because of COVID protocol.
Dreger on TSN says the NHL may have no choice but to pushback the start of the playoffs after the NHL announced seven more postponements today. DD adds they’re hoping at the commissioner level they won’t have to do that, they want to start next season on time.
— NHL Watcher (@NHL_Watcher) February 9, 2021
Analysis: Two things the NHL does not want to do. One to pause the season at any point. And the second is to pushback the start of the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Originally, the regular season was going to end May 8th. Obviously, that is going to change with teams dealing with COVID. Two teams have now had two weeks worth of games postponed. That means the schedule is going to be very cramped when those teams do get back to action. However. the best thing may be to backend the schedule. Instead of starting the playoffs on May 11th, they may have to start a week or two later to make these games up.
In an ideal world, the NHL would not want to backload the schedule. However, they may have no choice. Time may play a factor in their decision to push back the playoffs. With the 2021 Olympics still scheduled for the end of July, the NHL will need to finish before that. And also they are hoping to start next season sometime in October. Both very lofty goals. The template was there to play 48 games and the NHL was ambitious to play 56 games. Not all teams will play 56 games. And the NHL will have to go off points percentage to determine playoff seeding. While it may not be a decision the NHL wants to do, all options have to be on the table.
That does it for this edition of NHL Rumours, stay tuned for another edition on Wednesday.
Main Photo:
Embed from Getty Images
