On one of the most exciting days of the year for hockey fans, teams have already made blockbuster deals that include superstars and Stanley Cup champions. They’re not finished just yet, as the Entry Draft is just a few hours away. Already, a report has sprung up surrounding top free agent T.J. Oshie, with Andy Strickland of Fox Sports relaying that the Blackhawks are considering him as a replacement for Artemi Panarin on the Patrick Kane line. While Brandon Saad is expected to rejoin Jonathan Toews, Kane and Artem Anisimov are left without a winger for the time being on the second line.
It seems pretty far-fetched that Chicago would be able to fit Oshie into their salary structure as he’s heading into the offseason as one of the most sought-after scoring threats, but you easily could have said that about the team trading Panarin and Niklas Hjalmarsson earlier today. Oshie scored 33 goals last season playing with Niklas Backstrom and Alex Ovechkin, and has been in talks with the team since the end of the year. When the salary cap didn’t escalate all the way to $77MM, there entered some doubt the Capitals could fit him in, though it’s unclear where those talks currently stand. Oshie becomes a UFA on July 1st.
- It’s been previously reported that Kevin Shattenkirk would want to play in the Northeast closer to his hometown, and there had been interest from the New York Rangers at the trade deadline in acquiring him. He ended up going to the Capitals, but with the new cap space that has been opened by the Rangers by moving Derek Stepan, fans have their fingers crossed that he could “come home.” Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet poured a dash of cold water on that, saying that he thought Buffalo made more sense given the Rangers hesitation at handing out term to a similar defender in Keith Yandle last year. Yandle would end up being traded to the Florida Panthers and signed a seven-year, $44.5MM deal that would seem to be a target for Shattenkirk’s camp.
- Renaud Lavoie of TVA Sports reports that the Boston Bruins are the newest team in pursuit of Marco Scandella from the Minnesota Wild. Scandella has been called the most likely defenseman to get traded out of Minnesota, and had previously been linked to the Montreal Canadiens. With the Bruins having a solid future on the right side with Charlie McAvoy and Brandon Carlo, Scandella could fit nicely into the left-side behind Torey Krug. Scandella’s contract at $4MM for three years isn’t terrible, but Boston would have to be careful not to make things too hard on themselves with a big extension for David Pastrnak due this summer.
- Scott Powers of The Athletic is hearing that Marcus Kruger is once again likely to be traded by the Hawks. When an expansion draft trade never materialized, some believed that perhaps Kruger was safe from the salary cap ax for the time being. After the big moves today, and rumored interest in Oshie, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Kruger and his $3.1MM cap hit sent packing.
Cmon B’s!! Let’s goooooo
If the Bruins acquired Scandella, McQuaid would likely be gone. The cap difference then would only be $1.25 million. That wouldn’t effect their ability to sign Pastrnak. However, it could effect their ability to add a scoring winger in. The Bruins really need to give Krejci a winger who can score. The Bruins rely far too much on Bergeron, Marchand & Pastrnak and need to get more secondary scoring
I feel like B’s will never get the scoring and help on defense that they really need unless they make a trade and Sweeney seems to be in love with his top 6 and top 4 as much as the previous GM Chirrelli was so they’re stuck in neutral for the time being.