It’s Sunday and that means we have more NHL rumours to start the week. There have already been some pretty devastating injuries to big-name players so far this season. The Colorado Avalanche lost captain Gabriel Landeskog while the Toronto Maple Leafs are without Jake Muzzin. Another team dealing with an injury setback is the Florida Panthers with defenceman Aaron Ekblad. Today’s NHL rumours takes a look at what solutions the Florida Panthers defence may take while their All-Star blueliner is out.
All NHL rumours come from the original source and are subject to change.
NHL Rumours
Moves for Florida Panthers Defence
Mike McKenna and Frank Seravalli discussed what the Cats might do to replace Ekblad while he out. Seravalli speculated during Friday’s Ice Breakers segment that Florida will shop for a solution. However, these will only be low-cost stopgap measures. There doesn’t seem to be a blockbuster deal on the cards according to him.
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One name that’s come up in discussion is Pittsburgh Penguins defenceman Pierre-Olivier Joseph. The 23-year-old has gotten interest from “a number of teams” according to Seravalli. However, the Penguins haven’t been to keen to move the young blueliner.
The oft-mention Jakob Chychrun has requested a trade from the Arizona Coyotes and has been in the rumour mill a ton. It doesn’t seem likely the Panthers can make a deal worth. Florida still has some good prospects and are up against the $82.5 million salary cap.
What It Means
Florida could try to trade dollar-for-dollar with Arizona so they can still make the figures work. However, it’s pretty early in the season and the Panthers have gotten off to a decent start.
A three-team deal could always be possible, but it could get complex for general manger Bill Zito and his crew. Both trade partners would likely want tangible assets before making such a huge trade.
The most obvious plan is to go forward and deal with the loss as best as they can. It’s kind of the same situation that the Avalanche are facing in losing Landeskog. Florida will have to alter it’s lineup and make the best of a bad situation.
The Penguins have recalled defenseman Pierre-Olivier Joseph from the taxi squad on an emergency basis.
Joseph, 21, will be looking to make his NHL debut tonight against the New York Rangers.
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