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What Should Vegas Do With James Neal?

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The Vegas Golden Knights had it all figured out. The plan from Day One was to build the team through the draft with a goal of reaching the playoffs in three years and winning a Stanley Cup in five. Evidently, the team did their math wrong. They won’t stop winning now in Year One.

However, despite the team’s success, they have done exactly as they’ve planned. The Golden Knights built their 2017 NHL draft based on multiple trades that came with the expansion draft as they picked up an extra two first-round picks in draft-day deals. They also added an extra second rounder as well as extra fifth and sixth round picks. That totaled 12 picks in that draft, or 13, if you add seventh-round pick Dylan Ferguson, who the team picked up in a trade after the draft.

The draft pick collecting didn’t stop just with the 2017 draft, however. They picked up quite a few for the 2019 NHL draft as well as they have seven picks in the first three rounds in that draft and 12 picks total. Even in 2020, the Golden Knights have four picks in the first two rounds. However, the one draft that Vegas hasn’t targeted is this upcoming draft, the 2018 NHL Draft. It’s obvious, the team’s plan was to accumulate picks at the trade deadline this year. The team has several top players in the last year of their deals that could be sold off for assets, players like James Neal, David Perron, Luca Sbisa and possibly even Jon Marchessault. That has always been the plan, until now.

The team had been winning quite a bit early on, but the team’s recent 8-0-1 run may have changed the outlook of many. Now at the holiday break, Vegas finds itself with a 23-9-2 record, good enough for a three-way tie for first place in the Western Conference. This team is for real, having pulled off victories in just the last week over the Pittsburgh Penguins, Tampa Bay Lightning and the Washington Capitals. Just a few days ago, NHL.com’s Gary Lawless said that he doesn’t expect Vegas to break up their team at the deadline.

But what do you do with Neal? While Marc-Andre Fleury has been the face of the franchise, it’s Neal that has endeared himself to Vegas fans. The winger has 17 goals, which leads the team and fans would love to have him stay with the franchise. However, he will be 31 years old at the start of the season next year. This will be Neal’s last opportunity to cash in on a big contract, which he truly deserves. However, do you give a 31-year-old player a long-term contract? An six-year deal? Eight years? At what cost? Or do they just let him walk away next season and start all over again.

Perron and Sbisa are probably easy enough to let walk away at the end of the season. While they both have played extremely well this year, the team could probably find replacements at their positions quickly enough. Don’t forget they have two young first-round picks who are dominating their junior league in Cody Glass and Nick Suzuki and another first-rounder in Erik Brannstrom in Sweden waiting to come over. Even Marchessault’s situation is easier to predict as he’ll just be 27 next year. A long-term deal might not look too bad at his age. No matter how many years they sign him for, after two years he’d be 33 years old in a league that caters to young players and have started separating themselves from older ones. Is that what you want on a young expansion team? So, what should Vegas do with Neal?

Snapshots: Three Stars, Rinaldo, Barrie, Niederreiter

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The NHL released their three stars of the week, and Boston Bruins’ Tuukka Rask has top honors after starting three games last week, going 3-0 with a 1.30 GAA and a .954 save percentage. He made 16 saves in a 7-2 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets, and then followed that up with a 37-save performance (along with three shootout saves) to lead the Bruins past the Winnipeg Jets, 2-1, Thursday. Saturday, he made 30 saves to defeat the Detroit Red Wings, 3-1. He is 11-8-3 on the season with a 2.28 GAA and a .918 save percentage.

Mathew Barzal and James Reimer rounded out the top three amazing performances for the week. Barzal led the New York Islanders with a six-point performance for the week, including four goals in three games. His hat trick against the Winnipeg Jets Saturday was the first of his career. The 20-year-old leads all rookies with 23 assists and 35 points. Reimer stopped 106 out of 110 shots on goal in three games to lead the Florida Panthers to three victories. He posted a 1.33 GAA and a .964 save percentage for the week as he has been filling in for injured starter Roberto Luongo.

  • The Department of Player Safety announced that it has offered Arizona Coyotes forward Zac Rinaldo an in-person hearing for throwing a punch at an unsuspecting opponent. During the second period of Saturdays’ game against the Colorado Avalanche, Rinaldo laid a hit on Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon. In response, Avalanche defenseman Samuel Girard confronted Rinaldo, who subsequently sucker-punched him. Rinaldo has been suspended four times in his NHL career for a total of 19 games. The veteran has two goals and one assist in 31 games this year with 32 penalty minutes.
  • Mike Chambers of the Denver Post writes that Colorado Avalanche defenseman Tyson Barrie fractured a bone in his right hand in Saturday’s game against the Arizona Coyotes. He blocked a shot from Coyotes’ defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson in the first period that deflected off his hand. A timeline for his recovery has not been announced. Barrie is having a solid year with Colorado, with four goals and 23 assists in 34 games, ranking third in the league with 27 points for defensemen.
  • Sarah McLellan of the Star Tribune writes that Minnesota Wild winger Nino Niederreiter’s status remains unclear after he suffered a lower-body injury on Friday. He did not play Saturday and is day-to-day. “I don’t know if the puck hit him or if his foot banged against the boards,” said Boudreau, who figured Niederreiter was bruised on the play. The 25-year-old already missed six games earlier this season due to an ankle injury.

Minor Transactions: 12/24/17

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After a 15-game schedule on Saturday and a three-day holiday break, you would expect little action over the next few days, but a few teams made a few roster moves before starting their vacations. Let’s see if more are coming …

  • The Ottawa Senators made four roster moves this morning, sending goaltender Daniel Taylor, defensemen Andreas Englund and Ben Harpur as well as forward Chris Didomenico to the Belleville Senators of the AHL. Taylor was recalled due to the unavailability of goaltender Craig Anderson. DiDomenico was brought up Friday after injuries to Zack Smith and Bobby Ryan and played in 8:47 of ice time in Saturday’s 1-0 loss to Florida. Englund was recalled after the team lost forward Gabriel Dumont and Harpur has been up and down all season covering the team’s many injuries. Harpur played in 14:22 on Saturday, while Englund and Taylor were scratches.
  • The Montreal Canadiens assigned defenseman Brett Lernout to the Laval Rocket of the AHL Sunday morning. Lernout got into Saturday’s game to fill in defensive injuries with Shea Weber out, and played 14:43 of ice time and getting two hits in. He was recalled on Thursday.
  • The Columbus Blue Jackets made three moves of their own, assigning forwards Jordan Schroeder, Tyler Motte and defenseman Cameron Gaunce to the Cleveland Monsters of the AHL. Both Schroeder and Motte were recalled on emergency loans Saturday for the team’s 2-1 shootout win over the Philadelphia Flyers. Both played in the game. Gaunce had been recalled on Dec. 17, but didn’t play in a game.
  • The Los Angeles Kings made a couple of moves Sunday, as they assigned defenseman Kevin Gravel and goaltender Jack Campbell to the Ontario Reign of the AHL. Neither player got into a game with the Kings. Campbell was an emergency backup last night as backup Darcy Kuemper was unavailable. Gravel was recalled after the team placed defenseman Christian Folin on injured reserve.

2017 Year In Review: February

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2017 has been quite a busy year in the hockey world.  There have been several big trades, the first expansion team in over 15 years, and much more.  Over the coming days, PHR will take a look back at the top stories from around the game on a month-by-month basis. We already looked back at January yesterday.

Blues Fire Ken Hitchcock: After a slow start to the season (24-21) and his contract being up anyway at the end of the year, the St. Louis Blues decided to rid themselves of Hitchcock after six years with the franchise. Hitchcock had won 248 games with the Blues and took the team to the playoffs in each of the five years he coached the team, but only reached the conference finals once, in the 2015-16 season. He was immediately replaced by now-current head coach Mike Yeo, who was an assistant coach and was being groomed to replace Hitchcock after the veteran coaches’ deal expired. The move seemed to work as the team went 22-8-2 under Yeo and the team eventually lost in the second-round of the playoffs.

Robbi Fabbri’s Lower-Body Injury Begins His Demise: St. Louis Blues’ Robby Fabbri suffered what was described as a lower-body injury on Feb. 3 after sustaining a hit from Pittsburgh’s Carter Rowney, just three days after the team’s coaching change, and the young, talented stud prospect hasn’t played a game since. Two days later, he was listed as out for the season with a torn ACL, requiring surgery. Life only got worse for the Blues and Fabbri during training camp when he re-aggravated his knee and it was announced that he will miss all of the 2017-18 season as well to undergo a second surgery. The promising prospect will have missed more than a year and a half due to his knee injury as players with multiple knee injuries often have trouble returning to form.

Julien Fired By Bruins, Hired By Montreal: The Boston Bruins let go of head coach Claude Julien after 10 years with the franchise as the team was struggling with a 26-23-8 record on the season and didn’t look to be going anywhere in the playoff race. He had won 393 games with Boston in that span and was replaced by assistant and now-head coach Bruce Cassidy, who took Boston to the playoffs. However, just one week after being fired, Julien found employment again after the Montreal Canadiens fired Michel Therrien during his second-tenure with the team. Therrien had been coaching the team for five years (eight total), but Montreal was looking for a change after the team lost 10 of its previous 13 games and found Julien’s availability too good to pass up. Ironically, it was the second time that Julien replaced Therrien as the Canadiens’ head coach. He took over for him back in 2002 as well.

Lightning Trade Bishop To Los Angeles Kings: With the expectation that young prospect goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy would become the team’s future in the net, the Tampa Bay Lightning shipped veteran goaltender Ben Bishop off to the Los Angeles Kings for Peter Budaj, defensive prospect Erik Cernak, and and a 2017 seventh-round pick. A second pick was conditional on the Kings making the playoffs, which they didn’t. Bishop, who had been stellar for Tampa Bay in his tenure there, was just average with Tampa Bay last year with a 2.55 GAA in 32 games. He put up similar numbers with Los Angeles but only won two games for the franchise. Bishop was nothing more than a rental as he would be a free agent at the end of the season. The trade was especially confusing since the team had just gotten starter goaltender Jonathan Quick back from injury the day before the trade after he had missed all but one game due to injury. The trade was panned as many believed that the Kings needed a scorer, not more goalie support.

Blues Send Shattenkirk To Washington Capitals: While there were many interesting deals made at the trade deadline, none was more intriguing that the rumors that surrounded defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk and his expiring contract. It was strange to see a playoff caliber team that was playing well under Yeo, to trade their top defenseman, but the team didn’t want to lose the veteran for nothing. Instead, the team traded Shattenkirk to the dominant Washington Capitals in their quest for a Stanley Cup (didn’t happen) as they got back prospect Zachary Sanford, veteran Brad Malone, a first-round pick in 2017 (which they packaged to Philadelphia for Brayden Schenn) and a second-round pick in 2019. Shattenkirk joined a dominant group of defenders in Washington, but struggled along with the rest of the team in the playoffs before the team was bounced by the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Veteran Free Agent Contracts Not Working Out Well In 2017-18

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There is no doubt that the game of hockey is getting faster and, as a result, younger. Yet, in 2016-17 that didn’t stop 44-year-old ageless wonder Jaromir Jagr from outscoring his age, 40-year-old Matt Cullen and 37-year-old Chris Kunitz from contributing to a second straight Pittsburgh Penguins Stanley Cup title, 39-year-old Zdeno Chara from skating in more than 23 minutes per game, or 36-year-old Henrik Zetterberg and 37-year-old Joe Thornton from finishing among the league’s best in assists. Several teams who witnessed the impact that older players had on their teams last year went out and signed older free agents this summer in hopes of a repeat performance. It hasn’t happened for most of those teams. The majority of players age 36 and older who signed with new teams this off-season have struggled to meet expectations.

Jagr, of course, is the poster boy of the anti-youth movement. The 28-year NHL veteran has somehow remained consistent throughout his career even into his mid-40’s, but despite a 46-point campaign last year, got little attention this summer and it looked like his illustrious career was over. However, the Calgary Flames swooped in at the last minute, signing Jagr to a one-year deal in early October. At $2MM for the year, it was a low-risk, high-upside singing. Yet, through 36 games, that upside has not shown up. Jagr has only been healthy for 19 games, in which he has only one goal and six assists. Even if Jagr was magically healthy for each of the Flames remaining games this season, he would be on pace for a career-worst 24 points. It seems that Jagr’s days are finally done.

He’s not alone though. The Penguins aging role players also decided to leave Pittsburgh this off-season, with Cullen heading home to Minnesota to join the Wild and Kunitz chasing a fourth Cup with the Tampa Bay Lightning. Both players have been nothing short of a disappointment so far. Cullen, who was a major contributor to the Pens’ success last year as a dependable checking center and 30-point scorer. So far with the Wild, Cullen has been a non-factor offensively (7 points) and defensively (team worst -11) through 35 games and was even a healthy scratch earlier this month. Despite the incredible talent around him, Kunitz has just 10 points this season, a pace which is a far cry from his recent back-to-back 40-point seasons.

Who else is on the list? Defenseman Mark Streit was a complete disaster in Montreal, released by the Canadiens after just two games. Journeyman goalie Michael Leighton hasn’t done much better, already on his third team in 2017-18 and without an NHL appearance thus far. Despite the time-tested theory that Radim Vrbata always performs his best in Arizona, the aging scorer bolted the Coyotes for the Florida Panthers, who so far have only received 12 points and 29 games from the signing.

The jury is still out on a few veterans. Francois Beauchemin returned home to Anaheim this summer and many expected him to improve his game back on a familiar roster. While Beauchemin’s 7 points through 30 games pale in comparison to the better seasons of his career, it’s similar to the production he showed last year with the Colorado Avalanche. With the Ducks struggling as a team, it seems fair that Beauchemin’s play has also been a bit lacking. That hasn’t been the case for Ryan Miller, another aging addition in Anaheim. His .928 save percentage and 2.23 GAA has been very good. However, Miller has only gotten the win in four of his ten appearances and missed much of the early season due to injury. Miller has performed better than the rest of his team, but had he been healthy it may have reversed the Ducks’ fortunes early on. Matt Hendricks has already matched his point total with the Edmonton Oilers last season now with the Winnipeg Jets last season. He’s playing a valued energy role and the Jets likely don’t have many gripes. With that said, Hendricks needed only seven points to match that total from a down year in 2016-17 and has a been playing a less-physical game than he has in the past. Hendricks hasn’t been bad, but Winnipeg would undoubtedly rather see 2014-15 Hendricks, who posted 16 points and 220 hits.

The one team who has had great success with veteran signings in 2017-18 is the Toronto Maple Leafs. San Jose Sharks legend Patrick Marleau chose to sign in Toronto, leaving the only team he had ever played for, but the Leafs had to give him three years and $18.75MM to get it done. So far, it hasn’t been a bad investment. Marleau has 19 points in all 36 games, including 12 goals, and the 38-year-old should easily reach 40 points for the 18th time in his career. However, the real breakout veteran performance has been from the 36-year-old Ron Hainsey, whose signing was initially panned by many. Yet, Hainsey is on pace for one of, if not the best offensive campaigns of his career with 15 points so far. Forming a dynamic duo with Morgan Rielly, Hainsey seems rejuvenated late in his career and it has shown in an improvement on Toronto’s back end. But even the Leafs weren’t perfect though; the signing of Dominic Moore has been a disappointment. Moore has only nine points and has been a frequent scratch after a season with the division rival Boston Bruins in which he put up 25 points and played in all 82 games.

The NHL has been an increasingly difficult place for mediocre older players to find work. There has been a movement toward younger rosters, with veterans settling for minimum contracts, tryouts, or simply heading to Europe. Yet, exceptions continue to be made, especially for some talented older players. After the results this elderly free agent group has shown, veteran signings – especially those demanding big money and term – will surely become even less frequent.

Minor Transactions: 12/23/17

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Though the roster freeze is in effect, there still will be some roster movement today.  Anyone recalled after December 11th is eligible to be sent back down as late as today while players can still be recalled for any reason.  Considering there are 15 games on the slate before the NHL shuts down for its holiday break, there will likely be a few players getting summoned before the day is through.

  • The Senators announced (Twitter link) that they have officially recalled goaltender Daniel Taylor from AHL Belleville. The move comes on the heels of Craig Anderson being unable to dress for tonight’s game as a result of an illness.  It’s likely that Taylor will be sent back down immediately following the game before the full roster freeze takes effect.
  • Rasmus Andersson’s stint with Calgary lasted all of one day as he has been sent back to Stockton of the AHL, per a team release. The Flames are the lone team not in action today so his services won’t be needed until December 28th at the earliest.  Andersson did not dress for yesterday’s game against Montreal which means he was up only in case someone was injured in the warmup.  With 16 points in only 22 minor league games, the 21-year-old will likely get another look with the big club at some point this season.
  • The Coyotes announced a trio of roster moves. Defenseman Andrew Campbell has been recalled from Tucson of the AHL while blueliner Joel Hanley and winger Nick Merkley have been sent down.  Campbell last saw NHL action in 2015-16 with Toronto and will likely serve as injury insurance for their game tonight against Colorado.  Hanley has seen action in four NHL contests this season, averaging a little under 11 minutes per night while Merkley made his NHL debut earlier this week after being one of their top scorers at the minor league level.
  • CapFriendly tweets that Ottawa Senators center Zack Smith has been placed on injured reserve. The 29-year-old forward was reported yesterday to be out for at least two weeks with a shoulder injury. Smith has two goals and six assists in 24 games this season.
  • The Los Angeles Kings have recalled Jack Campbell from the AHL’s Ontario Reign on an emergency basis tonight. There is no word on whether Jonathan Quick or Darcy Kuemper are unable to go later tonight against the San Jose Sharks and it could be that Cambell’s call-up is simply precautionary. The Kings also announced that Kyle Clifford has been placed back on injured reserve, retroactive to December 16th. Clifford has missed most of the season with an upper-body injury.

Injury Notes: Wennberg, Martin, Folin, Vilardi

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The Columbus Blue Jackets might be without one of their young centers, according to The Athletic’s Aaron Portzline. The scribe writes that head coach John Tortorella didn’t acknowledge what the injury is, but said Alexander Wennberg is “probably out a while.”

The team already with multiple injuries at the center position with Brandon Dubinsky out as well as the fact that Wennberg himself has already missed significant time with injuries. The 23-year-old center had a breakout year last season when he put up 13 goals and 59 points, but this year has already missed several weeks with an upper-body injury in November. He has four goals and 12 assists in 30 games this season and hasn’t been as effective this year, often playing on the team’s third line.

Portzline also tweets that defenseman Zach Werenski is still out with no updates. In other injury news around the league:

  • San Jose Sharks defenseman Paul Martin’s two week conditioning stint is up (it actually expires Sunday) and he has been recalled. However, it doesn’t look like he will be placed into the Sharks lineup anytime soon. An Associated Press article in the New York Post reported Friday night that Martin had a setback from his recovery from ankle surgery, although the injury is not a recurrence of the same injury. However, there is no timeline for his return. Martin played four games with the San Jose Barracuda of the AHL, the first four games he’s ever played in the AHL in his entire career. The 36-year-old defenseman had one assist in that span.
  • Fox Sports Jon Rosen tweets that Los Angeles Kings’ defenseman Christian Folin remains out after being placed on injured reserve Tuesday due to a lower-body injury. According to Rosen, Kings’ head coach John Stevens said, “He hasn’t really started skating again yet, but we’ve got the break coming here. We want to just let everything settle down, get him going again after the break. I would hope he starts skating after the break, but we’ll see.”
  • Rosen also tweets that Los Angeles Kings’ 2017 first-round pick Gabriel Vilardi, who has been out with a back injury since the start of the season, is expected to be cleared to play in games for the Windsor Spitfires of the OHL on Dec. 28. Vilardi was the 11th-overall pick after scoring 29 goals for the Spitfires last season and has missed the entire year so far.

Flyers Notes: Couturier, Schenn Trade, Elliott

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In a holiday spirited story, Philly.com’s Sam Carchidi offers up presents for some Philadelphia Flyers and immediately points out that with the way that Sean Couturier has been playing this season, he deserves an opportunity to be named a finalist for the Selke Trophy, given to the league’s top defensive forward, although recent trends have included an offensive aspect to the award as well. Couturier already has a career-high in goals scored this year with 16 (15 was his previous high in 2014-15) and is just eight points away from his career-high in points. Don’t forget it’s still just December.

Carchidi also notes that while on a 39-goal pace this year, Couturier also could garner all-star consideration this year. His offense, a new bonus for Philadelphia, is just that — a bonus. He always has been one of the team’s top defensive forwards as Philadelphia has always matched the 25-year-old center up against the other team’s top offensive player.

  • Continuing with the same story, Carchidi also feels that any Flyers fan who hates the trade that sent Brayden Schenn to St. Louis in exchange for Jori Lehtera and a pair of first-round picks needs patience. Fans only see the swap of Schenn for Lehtera. On the surface, that trade looks quite lopsided with Schenn looking to have a career year with 17 goals and 40 points already this season. Lehtera’s two assists in 19 games leaves a lot to be desired. The scribe, however, says that 2017 first-round pick Morgan Frost, who was drafted with one of the two first-rounders the Flyers received in the deal, has been tearing up the OHL as he’s already put up 19 goals in 33 games for Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds. The 18-year-old center had 20 goals in 67 games last year. He should be a major piece of the team’s future. On top of that, there is another first-rounder coming in the 2018 draft.
  • Carchidi also believes the team made a successful free agent move signing goaltender Brian Elliott to a two-year deal and believes Philadelphia should extend that even one more year. His 2.65 GAA and .913 save percentage have been respectable, despite the team going on a 10-game losing streak earlier this year. The 32-year-old veteran seems to possess a calming influence on his teammates and he might be a great addition in two years when the team brings in top goaltending prospect Carter Hart in the 2019-20 season. Hart, considered to be the goaltender of the future in Philadelphia, has a 1.32 GAA with his junior team, the Everett Silvertips of the WHL, and is currently playing with Canada on the World Junior team.

PHR Mailbag: Blues, Flyers, Karlsson, Tavares, Bruins

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In this edition of the mailbag, several trade scenarios involving some prominent players are discussed as well as a look at the Flyers and their early-season streakiness.

Paul Heyman: Will the Sabres trade Evander Kane? Either that question or will the Blues trade for a top-six center with Schwartz being out?

Let’s tackle the second one first.  St. Louis has very limited cap space to work with when you consider that Jaden Schwartz will be back this season (so the short-term LTIR room isn’t a big factor).  As a result, it’s highly unlikely they’ll make a move for a top-six center in the coming weeks.  As the deadline approaches, I expect them to try to go after a top-six winger but with that limited cap room, they’ll have to get creative and will most likely wait until right before the deadline to limit the amount of money they’re taking on.

As for Kane, there doesn’t seem to be any real discussions regarding an extension at the moment so it’s hard to imagine at this point he won’t be traded.  Unless the Islanders decide to shock everyone and deal John Tavares over the risk of losing him for nothing (more on him a bit later), Kane is going to be the top rental player available and Sabres GM Jason Botterill will want to capitalize on that for sure.  The asking price is already believed to be steeper than that of the top rental players from previous years and they should be able to land that.  I wouldn’t rule out Kane playing for Buffalo next season entirely as he could come back in free agency but he should be traded before the end of February.

kyletaylor2322: How much do you read into the Flyers recent surge after the 10-game losing streak? Just because they did pull some of those games into overtime during that streak, but then last night they looked like a game of NHL2k18 and their controller batteries died.

I wouldn’t read a whole lot into it, at least from the standpoint of them potentially turning things around.  Philadelphia just seems to be a bit of a streaky team; they had the inverse of this happen last season with a 10-game winning streak followed by a five-game losing skid shortly thereafter.

While Brian Elliott is an upgrade between the pipes compared to Steve Mason, he’s still well below the top netminders that the Metropolitan Division has to offer.  They’re integrating several young players into their lineup and while that bodes well for their long-term future (and they have a lot to be excited for there), there are going to be growing pains along the way.  The fact that they’re a top-heavy team up front (their offensive production drops off dramatically after their top-four forwards) also makes them prone to streakiness – they can’t shoulder the load alone for long stretches and the supporting cast is hit-or-miss most nights.

When everything’s firing on all cylinders, the Flyers are a very good team.  However, taking those three factors into account, the only real consistent thing about them is that they’re consistently inconsistent.  That means they’re more prone to these alternating stretches of good play and bad play and at the end of the day, they’re not as good as they are when they’re on a winning streak and they’re not as bad as they are when they go into a tailspin.

acarneglia: Could the Islanders or Rangers pursue a trade for Karlsson?

Erik KarlssonIf the Senators were to consider trading Erik Karlsson this season (and I suspect that won’t happen; they’ll probably wait until the summer to make that call), I think the Islanders are one of the few teams that can really make a realistic push for his services.  They have a surplus of draft picks to work with following the Travis Hamonic trade plus some intriguing younger players that could be of interest to Ottawa GM Pierre Dorion.  Also, what type of message would that send to John Tavares as they try to lock him down on a long-term deal?  The Isles would be a motivated buyer with the pieces to make something work although they would have to send a sizable salary back the other way to fit Karlsson under the cap.

The fit isn’t as good for the Rangers, however.  Their prospect and draft pick pools aren’t as well-stocked as their state counterparts and they have a lot of money committed to their defense for next season already.   I don’t see the Sens being willing to take one of those bigger contracts back either unless it was expiring at the same time and the only one that fits that bill is Ryan McDonagh.  Karlsson alongside Kevin Shattenkirk would certainly make for a very exciting one-two punch from the back end but it’s probably not going to happen.

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East Notes: Green, Phaneuf, Jenner, Panthers

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Red Wings defenseman Mike Green is shaping up to be one of the top rental players available between now and the trade deadline.  Accordingly, MLive’s Ansar Khan speculates that Detroit could try to land a late first-round pick for his services from a team that is guaranteed to be playoff-bound.  If not, he thinks a pair of second rounders could be a realistic ask, especially considering the fact that Brendan Smith was able to yield a second and a third-round pick a year ago.  Green has a $6MM cap hit but if the Wings are willing to retain on it (something that seems likely), they should be able to land a sizable return for his services.

More from the East:

  • The Senators will be without defenseman Dion Phaneuf for a second straight game tonight against the Panthers, reports Don Brennan of the Ottawa Sun. Unlike several other Ottawa players who are dealing with injuries or illness, this one is at least for a happier reason as Phaneuf is with family following the recent birth of his daughter.  He’ll be ready to go following the holiday break.
  • The NHL has rescinded the game misconduct penalty given to Blue Jackets winger Boone Jenner, Aaron Portzline of The Athletic reports (Twitter link). This is notable as players who accumulate two game misconducts for stick infractions within 41 games or three in total for any reason during the season receive an automatic one-game suspension.  This penalty being taken back puts Jenner back at a clean slate for the season.
  • Panthers goaltender Roberto Luongo has resumed skating, notes Walter Villa of the Miami Herald. However, he is still several weeks away from being able to return to the lineup from his leg injury.  Villa adds that winger Jamie McGinn’s absence from their game last night was due to an upper-body injury.  The veteran is listed as day-to-day.

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