{"id":435842,"date":"2024-01-04T09:30:55","date_gmt":"2024-01-04T14:30:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=435842"},"modified":"2024-01-03T16:32:43","modified_gmt":"2024-01-03T21:32:43","slug":"nhl-rumours-toronto-maple-leafs-and-new-jersey-devils-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2024\/01\/04\/nhl-rumours-toronto-maple-leafs-and-new-jersey-devils-3\/","title":{"rendered":"NHL Rumours: Toronto Maple Leafs and New Jersey Devils"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Welcome to another edition of NHL Rumours! <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/m\/mcdavco01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-01-03_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Connor McDavid<\/a> has become the fifth fastest player to reach 900 points and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/o\/ovechal01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-01-03_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Alex Ovechkin<\/a> is 65 goals away from breaking the record. It is great things to see in the game of hockey. However, the rumour mill is churning faster and faster and the latest buzz is in the Eastern Conference. Today\u2019s rumours focus on the Toronto Maple Leafs and New Jersey Devils. <\/span><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">NHL Rumours <\/span><\/h2>\n<h3 class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Toronto Maple Leafs <\/span><\/h3>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><em>Rumour: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thefourthperiod.com\/dec-2023\/leafs-nylander-to-escalate-contract-talks\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dave Pagnotta from the Fourth Period<\/a> discusses the latest on Williams Nylander contract<\/em> <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Things are ramping up in this regard. One of the most coveted free agents is the Maple Leafs winger and deservedly so. After back-to-back 80-point seasons, Nylander is on pace to shatter those totals. He is currently on pace for 117 points and has 50 points through the team&#8217;s first 35 games. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Nylander has been a force offensively and sits second on the team in goals. He is a large part of the Maple Leafs offensive attack and will be due for a hefty raise. Pagnotta recently went on the Full Press Hockey Podcast and discussed the latest on the deal. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Pagnotta <a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/episode\/0wUnBhpwIAB0KF6Rl3Ji0r?si=DzVn8_cMTDeMUXvdm44Rqw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">said on the podcast<\/a>, \u201cNylander. They\u2019ve had some discussions that are in the negotiation realm, but nothing is close right now. And I think that ramps up once the New Year hits.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Toronto will be a team to monitor in this regard. Do they risk losing him for nothing in free agency to a team that has more financial flexibility? Or do they ink him to the lucrative deal he deserves and worry about the money later? <\/span><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">New Jersey Devils<\/span><\/h3>\n<p class=\"p1\"><em><span class=\"s1\">Rumour: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thefourthperiod.com\/jan-2024\/flames-working-the-trade-lines\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dave Pagnotta from the Fourth Period<\/a> discusses the Devils being linked to two defencemen<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Our next set of NHL Rumours keeps us out East. The trade deadline is growing closer and closer and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/c\/conrocr01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-01-03_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Craig Conroy<\/a> has a lot of work to do. As we\u2019ve entered the new year, the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/category\/flames\/\" target=\"_self\">Calgary Flames<\/a> currently sit out of a playoff position and have key roster decisions to make. Currently, pending free agent defenceman <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/h\/hanifno01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-01-03_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Noah Hanifin<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/t\/tanevch01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-01-03_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Chris Tanev<\/a> have been linked to the New Jersey Devils and time will tell if they are moved. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Hanifin was close to an extension but chose to wait and see how the team performs. It appears now that he is likely to test the market and move on to greener pastures. Pagnotta suggests that Hanifin seems like the more logical fit in New Jersey. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">From an offensive standpoint this makes a ton of sense. The Devils are a strong offensive team and their defence does a great job in transition. Adding a puck mover like Hanifin would be huge for the back end, especially since the team is without <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/h\/hamildo01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-01-03_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dougie Hamilton<\/a>. Not to mention, he could take pressure off the rookies <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/h\/hughelu01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-01-03_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Luke Hughes<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/n\/nemecsi01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-01-03_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Simon Nemec<\/a>, who have thrived under their roles and are logging heavy minutes. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Financially this would work, as Hanifin is entering the final year of his deal and a salary cap hit of $4.95 million. Hanifin does possess an eight team no trade clause, so hopefully New Jersey isn\u2019t on the list. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Main Photo: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Welcome to another edition of NHL Rumours! Connor McDavid has become the fifth fastest player to reach 900 points and Alex Ovechkin is 65 goals away from breaking the record. It is great things to see in the game of hockey. However, the rumour mill is churning faster and faster and the latest buzz is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4194,"featured_media":435843,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4321,4547,13,4548,18],"tags":[6094,6127],"class_list":["post-435842","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rumours","category-hockey","category-devils","category-nhl","category-leafs","tag-new-jersey-devils-rumours","tag-toronto-maple-leafs-rumours"],"modified_by":"Alec Roberson","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435842","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4194"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=435842"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435842\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/435843"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=435842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=435842"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=435842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}