{"id":91771,"date":"2020-11-26T08:30:17","date_gmt":"2020-11-26T13:30:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=91771"},"modified":"2020-12-21T14:47:45","modified_gmt":"2020-12-21T19:47:45","slug":"nhl-rumours-canucks-lightning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2020\/11\/26\/nhl-rumours-canucks-lightning\/","title":{"rendered":"NHL Rumours: Vancouver Canucks, Tampa Bay Lightning"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Welcome back to Last Word on Hockey&#8217;s NHL Rumours series. We&#8217;d like to take this moment to wish our American readers a happy, and more importantly, healthy, Thanksgiving.<\/p>\n<p>Today, we examine two potential contract extensions. They surround young players who both look to be important parts of their respective teams&#8217; futures. However, the feasibility of these extensions remains in jeopardy. The <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/category\/canucks\/\" target=\"_self\">Vancouver Canucks<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/category\/lightning\/\" target=\"_self\">Tampa Bay Lightning<\/a> will go under the microscope as we examine some rumours.<\/p>\n<h2>NHL Rumours<\/h2>\n<h3>Vancouver Canucks<\/h3>\n<p><em>Rumour: In an <a href=\"https:\/\/theathletic.com\/2220080\/2020\/11\/25\/whats-next-for-the-canucks-core-5-thoughts-on-vancouvers-best-young-players\/?fbclid=IwAR126lAIR95wmgC39gt42YczxhMEyBMaTNqW42LDN1QMdSG9PaL9HhPgNUA\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">article examining the future of the Canucks&#8217; young core<\/a>, The Athletic&#8217;s Thomas Drance projects the cap hit of\u00a0<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/d\/demkoth01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Thatcher Demko<\/a><\/strong>&#8216;s contract at around $3.5 million.<\/em><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">What\u2019s next for the <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Canucks?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#Canucks<\/a> core? 5 thoughts on Vancouver\u2019s best young players <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/3giaJ2CI4W\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/3giaJ2CI4W<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Thomas Drance (@ThomasDrance) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ThomasDrance\/status\/1331660203335401473?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">November 25, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><em>Analysis:\u00a0<\/em>There&#8217;s little doubt that the 2021 offseason will be the most transformative in Canucks history. Their best young forward (<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/p\/petteel01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Elias Pettersson<\/a><\/strong>), defenceman (<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/h\/hughequ01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Quinn Hughes<\/a><\/strong>), and goalie (Demko) will all be <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2020\/11\/12\/nhl-rumours-canucks-stars-soderberg\/\" target=\"_self\">restricted free agents<\/a>.\u00a0<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/g\/gaudead01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Adam Gaudette<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>is also an RFA, while longtime defensive mainstay\u00a0<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/e\/edleral01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Alexander Edler<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>will be an unrestricted free agent. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.capfriendly.com\/teams\/canucks\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Via CapFriendly<\/a>, the Canucks have around $24.5 million in cap headroom to make this work.<\/p>\n<p>Is it doable? Yes. Is it easy? No.<\/p>\n<p>Pettersson should take up nearly half of that. If general manager\u00a0<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/b\/benniji01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jim Benning<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>can convince Hughes to take a bridge deal (like Demko, but a higher cap hit), things should become much clearer. Edler likely will take a pay cut if they want to retain him. It leaves Vancouver with some wiggle room to add in free agency.<\/p>\n<p>If Benning plays his cards right, Vancouver next year could again set themselves up to be a playoff dark horse.<\/p>\n<h3>Tampa Bay Lightning<\/h3>\n<p><em>Rumour: After signing\u00a0<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/s\/sergami01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Mikhail Sergachev<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2020\/11\/25\/mikhail-sergachev-re-signs-tampa-bay-lightning\/\" target=\"_self\">to an extension yesterday<\/a>, TSN&#8217;s Pierre LeBrun reports that there have been no improvements in talks with their other big fish in <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/c\/cirelan01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Anthony Cirelli<\/a><\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Doesn&#8217;t sound like there&#8217;s been much headway on the Anthony Cirelli RFA front.<br \/>\n&#8220;Nothing new to report,&#8221; says Cirelli&#8217;s agent Pat Morris of Newport Sports.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PierreVLeBrun\/status\/1331699959553536000?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">November 25, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><em>Analysis:\u00a0<\/em>The Lightning and general manager\u00a0<strong>Julien BriseBois\u00a0<\/strong>still have a long ways to go until they&#8217;re in the clear. Sergachev&#8217;s bridge deal is spectacular &#8211; right price, right length, and they&#8217;ll need to work their magic again with Cirelli. Being 23 years old, Cirelli will likely receive a similar deal that takes him to his last year of RFA eligibility. However, keeping the price down won&#8217;t be easy, especially for a top-six centre who finished top five in Selke Trophy voting.<\/p>\n<p>Cirelli finished the year with 44 points in 68 games. A long term deal would likely see him earn over $7 million, something Tampa obviously can&#8217;t afford. But right now, they can&#8217;t afford him at all. Regardless of what Cirelli signs for, they still need to make some moves. After the Sergachev signing, they&#8217;re almost $2 million over the cap with no usable LTIR relief. Considering they still have\u00a0<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/c\/cernaer01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Erik Cernak<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>to sign, and it&#8217;s still likely at this point that at least two roster players will need to be shipped out before a contract can get done. The defending Stanley Cup champions should look a bit different next year.<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo:<br \/>\n<a id=\"Wejq7ZQKRV9qj5YiUk6JIw\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1270712724\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'Wejq7ZQKRV9qj5YiUk6JIw',sig:'o0ByjMaFA_ml_ySMLmRYE4o2LpAbJC_kueoFzzsylnE=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'1270712724',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Welcome back to Last Word on Hockey&#8217;s NHL Rumours series. We&#8217;d like to take this moment to wish our American readers a happy, and more importantly, healthy, Thanksgiving. Today, we examine two potential contract extensions. They surround young players who both look to be important parts of their respective teams&#8217; futures. However, the feasibility of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3006,"featured_media":91772,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_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":[4321,2,4547,4548,9,26],"tags":[3157,2544,2295,932,1299,37,868,3711,200,38,5715,2138,4150,42,852,158],"class_list":["post-91771","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rumours","category-featured","category-hockey","category-nhl","category-lightning","category-canucks","tag-adam-gaudette","tag-alexander-edler","tag-anthony-cirelli","tag-elias-pettersson","tag-erik-cernak","tag-hockey","tag-jim-benning","tag-julien-brisebois","tag-mikhail-sergachev","tag-nhl","tag-nhl-rumors","tag-quinn-hughes","tag-rumours","tag-tampa-bay-lightning","tag-thatcher-demko","tag-vancouver-canucks"],"modified_by":"Jim Biringer","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91771","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\/3006"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91771"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91771\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/91772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91771"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91771"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91771"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}