Rumor Roundup: Hanzel, Jurco, Parity

News and notes from the NHL’s rumor mill:

• According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, the Arizona Coyotes offered the Montreal Canadiens pending UFA Martin Hanzal in exchange for Michael McCarron, a 1st round draft pick, and a conditional draft pick. That is a steep price to pay for a player with only 10G and 8A in 39 games. Hanzal hasn’t done anything lately to help the Coyotes, either—he’s scored in only two games this month. Unfortunately for teams looking at Hanzal, the Coyotes’ asking price is in line with previous deals for Hanzal-like players. Andrew Ladd returned a prospect (Marko Dano) and a first and third round draft pick, while Eric Staal returned a prospect (Aleksi Saarela) and two second round draft picks. Both had similar production and similar ages to Hanzal at the deadline last year. That first round pick could turn into a second round pick if Hanzel continues to underproduce, but the Coyotes are not out the realm of reasonability right now.
• According to the Detroit Free Press’s Helene St. James today, Tomas Jurco had asked the Detroit Red Wings for a trade this season. Jurco has sat as a healthy scratch for all but 11 games this season, and has failed to register a point in those games. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman has also heard that Jurco wants out, and one can see why. Sometimes a player has no room in a given organization, and no player wants to sit idly by at any point in his career. Teams are usually good about accommodating these requests—like when the Maple Leafs traded Peter Holland to the Arizona Coyotes for a conditional seventh round draft pick—but nothing is guaranteed. The problem for most teams is that the player usually has untapped potential and they want to hold on to that player as long as they can.
• TSN’s Darren Dreger said on TSN 1040 Vancouver today that the trade market is paralyzed by parity. Because so many teams are within a few points of a playoff spot, those teams are wary of trading away assets. Part of that parity stems from the so-called loser point, where many games end up becoming three point games (2 for a win, 1 for the OT/SO loss). The parity may be an illusion however. Three years ago Elliotte Friedman, then with the CBC, wrote that of the 32 teams 4 points or more back of a playoff spot, only 3 teams managed to make the playoffs.