{"id":66843,"date":"2020-01-27T08:30:10","date_gmt":"2020-01-27T13:30:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonhockey.com\/?p=66843"},"modified":"2020-12-21T14:58:52","modified_gmt":"2020-12-21T19:58:52","slug":"nhl-rumours-ottawa-senators-minnesota-wild-anaheim-ducks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2020\/01\/27\/nhl-rumours-ottawa-senators-minnesota-wild-anaheim-ducks\/","title":{"rendered":"NHL Rumours: Ottawa Senators, Minnesota Wild, Anaheim Ducks"},"content":{"rendered":"

NHL Rumours marches on after an exciting All-Star break. The trade deadline is now less than a month away and the market will likely pick up soon. Continue to check in with Last Word on Hockey for the best analysis as soon as news hits. Today’s NHL rumours feature the Ottawa Senators<\/a>, Minnesota Wild<\/a> and Anaheim Ducks<\/a>.<\/p>\n

NHL Rumours<\/h2>\n

Ottawa Senators<\/h3>\n

Rumour: <\/em>The Ottawa Sun’s Bruce Garrioch reports<\/a> that the Senators could be shopping defenceman Dylan DeMelo<\/a><\/strong>to teams that need help on the blueline.<\/p>\n

Analysis:\u00a0<\/em>DeMelo is a relatively new name on the market for Ottawa. Most of the talk has swirled around Jean-Gabriel Pageau<\/a><\/strong> but it makes sense that the Senators would sell the majority of their upcoming free agents. The 26-year-old DeMelo is one such player and could be a cheap rental both considering his lack of production in 2019-20 and low cap hit. He has a cap hit of just $900,000 and is not likely to get a significant raise this summer.<\/p>\n

That is because DeMelo is having a bad season. He has just seven points, all assists, on 49 shots in 38 games. He has never been an especially potent scorer; last year was a career-best four goals and 22 points but this year is very poor in terms of traditional stats. His only obvious value is as a physical presence where he has posted 70 hits and 52 blocks this year.<\/p>\n

However, there is much more to his game when looking at advanced stats. His 52.6 Corsi For percentage is best among all Ottawa skaters who have played more than seven games. He has done an exceptional job helping the Sens control the action despite a lack of eye-grabbing offensive stats. Several teams could use an extra defenceman and DeMelo is one such option popping up as January closes.<\/p>\n

Minnesota Wild<\/h3>\n

Rumour: <\/em>Pierre LeBrun recently speculated about the state of each NHL team and had a very interesting thought regarding Mathew Dumba<\/a><\/strong>‘s future in the State of Hockey.<\/p>\n

\n

The trade deadline goes one month today on Feb. 24. As such, I worked the phones this week to produce a 31-team, 8,500-word deadline overview. Much will change in the coming weeks, but here's where all the teams stand now:https:\/\/t.co\/wdBXaxMWtu<\/a><\/p>\n

— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) January 24, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n