It has been a busy few weeks across the NHL. We have a repeat Stanley Cup champion, the draft has come and gone, and many players find themselves on new teams following some big trades and plenty of free agent signings with the bulk of the heavy lifting now finished on the offseason.
With that in mind, it’s a good time to reopen the mailbag. Our last call for questions yielded enough topics for three columns. The first discussed Connor Hellebuyck’s playoff struggles, Florida’s playoff proficiency, and more. Topics in the second included an assessment of the Avalanche, ideal second center options for Montreal, and some offseason predictions. The third included some talk about the Blackhawks, a Noah Dobson prediction (that didn’t quite hold up), and what Detroit needed to do this summer to have a successful offseason.
You can submit a question by using #PHRMailbag on Twitter/X or by leaving a comment down below. The mailbag will run this weekend.
The Capitals seemed to come in second place for the Ehlers sweepstakes. If McMichael moves to 3C who is 2nd line LW and 3rd line RW. It seems that the Caps trade a lot for Sourdif so he is given 4th line winger slot. Do the caps pull a trade we are not thinking about or do they take 2 from Beauvilier, Frank, Milano, Miroschienko, Cristall, Trineyev, LaPierre? and only a few have AHL options so waiver or trades for the others?
Ovechkin – Strome – Wilson
Protas – Dubois – Leonard
Cristal – McMichael – Beauvillier
Duhaime – Dowd – Sourdif
Teams like the Leafs and Rangers seemed pretty open about the need for big changes this summer. Is this what they had in mind? Or are bigger moves coming? Or has the fact that a lot of the top UFAs opted to stay put hamper their plans?
Now that that FA market has come and gone, do we see teams making some big trades to revamp their rosters or stand pat?
With the addition of the sharks on défense even if its not done i assume. And the potentiel ad of Misa with Dickinson ans Askarov.
Where Do you ses the sharks land with a top 6 compose of Celebrini Misa Smith ans Eklund at Wing and Toffoli with Orlov and Klinberg That should be good ad on on defense.
Mailbag question – What has come of the situation between the Flyers and Ryan Johansen? A friend implied he read an article or tweet the grievance was squashed, but I’ve been unsuccessful in finding anything beyond the announcement of the grievance hearing that was scheduled. Of all the articles I’ve read about their cap and dead cap hits, none mentioned any impact from Johansen’s contract situation.
Lets play hypothetical and say the Devils DO trade Dougie Hamilton what kind of return could we be looking at??? and likeliest trading partners????
What would the Blues have to pay for Byram? Is Jiricek, Stenberg, and offersheet compensation reasonable?
Unless you move Faulk’s money nothing will happen.
Any further moves by Kent Hughes and the Canadiens? I know they have looked into a 2nd Line wing or center but there is not alot on the market. Is their a chance Rossi, McTavish head back to the Habs or do they like try with Kirby Dach at center again? A second question is what do you think a Lane Hutson contract extension would look like? 8 x $10? Thanks!
Is K’Andre Miller worth the price Carolina paid to get him? Also, who is your pick for best sneaky good/under-the-radar trade or free agency acquisition so far this offseason?
Definitely happy with the return as an NYR fan. But I am also nervous to play against him going forward – with the structure CAR plays with, I can see him realizing his potential.
Do the Blues ultimately pull off a trade for Bowen Byram?
I don’t think they have the capacity to move Neighbours after moving Bolduc. In fact, I think the Bolduc-Mailloux trade sucked for both teams because MTL could be using Hutson – Dobson, Matheson – Carrier, Guhle – Mailloux, and the Blues could move out either Neighbours or Bolduc for Byram.
I imagine the Maple Leafs aren’t done tinkering with their lineup. what do you see as the next move for this team and do you think they are a tougher team to play against today than they were at the end of last year?
not counting the Panthers, which team do you think has had the best off-season to date (noting it’s early) and which team have you been disappointed with so far?
When we look back in a couple of years, who will we look at as being the best / worst deals (for signings and/or trades)?
The Red Wings had a couple major issues last season. Their ability to score 5-on-5 and their penalty kill.
Do you see any improvement in these areas up to this point for this coming season after their signings?
I think adding JVR helped with the 5 on 5 but signing someone like Roslovic could be a nice add and I think Mathieu Joseph from STL would be a good stopgap until a nice prospect is ready to come up.
Mailbag Q – Is it time for the league to do something substantial about tanking?
The Blackhawks are clearly in “full tank mode” for the 25 – 26 season.
Playing your prospects isn’t tanking. Going to the bar at noon and coming here and saying that is tanking FYI. LOL.
“LOL”
You are talking about yourself, again! LOL
Mailbag Q. Now that Adams has filed arbitration on Byrum does that hamper any trade the Sabres were working on? I am very disappointed in our GM and I think we will end up keeping Byrum as an unhappy player and go through this next year. Why can’t Adams make a good trade especially since the Blues are really interested in Byrum. Another year of missing the playoffs is on the horizon.
What can the Bruins do? They need scoring and have only $2 million in cap space. Would you trade Zacha, Poitras, Mittlestadt, Minten or Korpisalo?
Would the sharks (or Hawks) do a solid to the devils and pick up Palat like they did with Goodrow? Depth wing, good mentor. They still have issues with the cap floor too… I’m surprised a solution hasn’t materialized here for NJD.
Palat has an NMC where Goodie just had a (modified) NTC. Palat has to sign off on any transactions, including waivers
No, it’s become a NTC just like Gibsons. Granted, SJS and CHI could be off his 10 team list. For the purposes of the question, lets assume Palat is ok to go to either – would SJS or CHI be interested?
Still showing as NMC on puckpedia, so my bad if it’s switched. I miss capfriendly
@Schwa and DevilShark, you’re both correct! A player can have an NMC and a modified NTC at the same time. He has a 10-team approved trade list as part of his M-NTC. The NMC is still in place, though, preventing a waiver workaround like the Rangers pursued with Goodrow and the Blues just pursued with Leddy.
Thanks Josh! Didn’t know about the separate protections overlapping – haven’t seen that (knowingly) before!
Thanks Josh, I didn’t realize the waiver thing was still in place either. I guess we must be stuck with him… a real anchor contract.
Is there a goaltending shortage in the NHL? It seems like quite a few teams are searching for a true starter where none are available, with a large drop-off in quality after the top 20-25 netminders. This doesn’t seem to be an issue with other positions, though those positions typically take less time to cook.
If true, how could this problem be systematically rectified within the league? And considering the goalies in development and those yet to be drafted, does relief appear to be on the horizon?
Systematically rectified? STOP EXPANDING.
Could you please compare and contrast Connor Bedard and James Hagens?
Lightning Round II – Is there a race with Brossoit or is Knight the clear-cut starter? Who are Anaheim’s opening night Top-6? Is Rossi re-signed or moved out? And, is it Perfetti’s time to shine now that Ehlers is gone?
Where is McKenna getting drafted? Bottom few teams this year on paper?
Hawks, Sharks & Preds
Those are safe bets. I think NSH will rebound somewhat. I think BOS will continue to slip. Might be bottom 3. CGY could if Wolf doesn’t carry again. PIT could be that bad too. I think SJS will come up but yes, likely bottom 5.
There was a discussion on r/hockey where we were talking about “best trades that benefited both teams.” There were a lot of obvious answers: Iginla for Nieuwendyk, ROR for Tage, RBA for Keith Primeau. But it got me thinking, what is the real answer to this question? We could only come up with one instance ALL-TIME where traded players won cups with their new respective teams. STL trades Ian Cole to PIT for Robert Bortuzzo and a 2016 7th on March 2nd, 2015. Both Cole and Bortuzzo won cups with their new teams, both of them playing significant roles in the cup run. Is this really the only case of this ever happening? Is this the greatest trade in NHL history?
Can’t be. Had to have happened all the time in the Original Six era.
There weren’t a lot of trades in the Original Six era. Most guys played on the same teams their entire career. In the 1950s and 60s, the Canadians and the Leafs won most of the cups and they didn’t trade very much and usually it was a player for cash, for example. Hard to believe, but it might be the only instance.
Erm? No. The very first year of the Original Six (42-43)? The Habs acquired Gordie Drillon from Toronto and Dutch Hiller from Boston; Hiller would be dealt four times in five years. The Canadiens dealt Bert Gardiner to the Black Hawks. The Rangers dealt Babe Pratt to Toronto for Hank Goldup and Red Garrett. There were in fact plenty of trades in the era.
I did a dig through. Most of the trades in the O6 era were players for cash but there were 5 trades that involved players that would go on to win cups with their new teams. One such case in the 1970s (Mike Walton for Rick MacLeish), one case in the 80s (Craig Simpson for Paul Coffey). Once in the 90s (Richer for Kirk muller). An asterisk case in the 2000s (Aaron ward for the pick that would become Jiri hudler). And Cole for Bortuzzo. One last asterisk for the pick in that would be Alec Martinez for the pick that would be Braden Holtby and it’s 11x in history. Not just the once but still pretty rare.
Honestly MOST of the pre modern trades that resulted in this were pre-O6. There was, from what I could tell, only one O6 era trade: Ted Kennedy for Frank Eddolls in 1943. The next time it happened was the MacLeish trade in 71.
Also don’t forget that you can basically rule out the Rangers and the Hawks (save 1961), the Bruins for 30 years, and the Wings after ’55. So you’d basically have to look for trades between the Leafs and the Habs for the better part of two decades.
Do you think Toronto is sort of mailing it in this year with the prospect of McDavid being available next year ?
Lifelong Sabres fan, I’m 100% hoping we re-sign Alex Tuch at some point this off-season. I know he’s due for a nice raise from his current deal, should I be worried the longer the summer goes with no news?