Welcome to Saturday’s edition of our NHL Rumours. To kick off your weekend, we have some NHL rumours from the Minnesota Wild with their concerns about the future of Kevin Fiala, The Toronto Maple Leafs with some questions about whether one of their top assistants will leave for a top job , and the New Jersey Devils with rumours about securing a forward from the Vancouver Canucks.
All NHL rumours come from the original source and are subject to change.
NHL Rumours
Minnesota Wild
Rumour: Kevin Fiala will be traded out of Minnesota, and that the Los Angeles Kings are one of the teams that could be a match according to The Athletic.
Anaolysis: Fiala looks to be on the block in Minnesota, as the Wild look to shake some things up after a horrendous 2022 Stanley Cup Playoff -ampaign. Michael Russo wrote in The Athletic that the wild may look to get a first-round pick for him, but it wouldn’t be in the top 10. Bill Guerin stated that he expects his phone to be ringing in a few weeks. He also stated on the Straight from the Source podcast that “In a perfect world, we’d probably have multiple teams interested”. Fiala is only 25, and has picked up in production over the last few seasons. he should be a good top 6 forward for whichever team needs his production, which was an impressive 85 points in 82 games last season.
Toronto Maple Leafs
Rumour: Leafs Assistant coach Spencer Carbery may be getting calls about an NHL head coaching job, according to The Athletic
Analysis: Although Carbery is a new hire for the Maple Leafs, being hired in the summer of 2021, he may be getting another job. Although this time, it’s for an NHL head coaching job. With the amount of Head Coaching vacancies there are, Pierre LeBrun writes that he wouldn’t be surprised if GMs like Steve Yzerman call him to offer the head coaching position to Carbery.
Carbery has had a pretty good track record as a coach, winning the coach of the year with the Hershey Bears in 2021, as well as leading the Bears to a McGregor Kilpatrick Trophy.
If a team decides to call him and offer the job, it would be a pretty smart move considering the influx of young coaches that have made their marks in the NHL.
New Jersey Devils
Rumour: The New Jersey Devils may be a team to watch in a trade for JT Miller, along with some ‘sleepers’ according to Canucks Central.
Could a surprise team be interested in JT Miller? Do the #NJDevils have legitimate interest in the Canucks’ forward?@irfgaffar joined #Canucks Central with @danriccio_ and @SatiarShah to talk about that and more!
🟢: https://t.co/lJN6l8eChF
🍎: https://t.co/5C1lTewOHn pic.twitter.com/IDFs36SSVM— Sportsnet 650 (@Sportsnet650) June 2, 2022
Analysis: Irfaan Gaffar stated it’s pretty much all ‘smoke and mirrors’ with the Devil’s and JT Miller, and said as well that there could be some teams that would be sleepers, although none were named in the audio clip posted to Twitter.
JT Miller has had an interesting few years as a Canuck, recording both 72 points in 69 games in his first year, and 99 points in 80 games this season. It is surprising however seeing the Canucks looking to trade Miller with his rapid influx in performance, although he had 47 PIM this year, so that could be a factor.
They could also use his value to get assets for a rebuild, which is the most likely cause.
The Canucks are looking to retool with the disastrous season they had this year, so this could be the first stepping stone amongst many that the team places, which started with the firing of Head Coach Travis Green, and bringing on Bruce Boudreau as a replacement.
