Pro Hockey Rumors Originals News & Rumors

After focusing on the Central Division last weekend, we turn our focus to the Eastern Conference in this edition of the PHR Mailbag, looking at some trade ideas and what a few teams might do in the next few days.  If your question doesn’t appear here or in last weekend’s piece, we’ll have one more mailbag running soon so watch for it in there.

Zoe G: Unfortunately, Ryan Graves didn’t have the standout season everyone was hoping for in Pittsburgh. Any chance he will go back to the NJ Devils?

This is one of those never-say-never questions but let’s just say I’d be shocked if Graves went back to New Jersey, at least with how things look today.

Let’s look at their cap situation on the back end.  At the moment, they have over $23MM tied into their current back end, including Dougie Hamilton who is on LTIR but will be back next season.  That’s already in the top half of the league.  Adding Graves and his $4.5MM to the books puts them just shy of the top five in spending.  Is that the most efficient use of their resources when they know that Luke Hughes isn’t too far away from a pricey new contract?  At that point, they might be approaching the league lead for spending on the back end.

There’s also the fact that Graves has five years left on his contract.  From Pittsburgh’s perspective, that largely deflates his value given his struggles so are they willing to part with one of their key offseason acquisitions for a return that would almost certainly be well below his perceived value a year ago?  I don’t see the Penguins wanting to do that and really anyone (not just New Jersey) wanting to take a swing on Graves with the struggles he’s having.  He needs to show that this year was just an aberration and not a sign of things to come before a trade becomes a little more realistic.

azcm2511: Thoughts on a Linus Ullmark for Dawson Mercer deal? It would benefit both teams, and it is possible that Ullmark would waive his trade restriction for a short move down the road. This move would benefit both teams and NJ can certainly handle Ullmark’s contract.

This is the type of trade proposal where I don’t think either side would immediately say no and hang up the phone.  I mean that as a compliment at a time when a lot of fan proposals are ultimately skewed too heavily in favor of one team to the point where they can’t seriously be considered.  Having said that, I think this is a trade that both sides would eventually pass on.

From New Jersey’s perspective, Mercer is an important part of their long-term plans.  I know he’s having a bit of a down year but he’s a season removed from 27 goals and 56 points; that’s a true top-six forward.  He also has four years of club control left.  Is it the right move to make to give up four years of control on a top-six forward for Ullmark who only has one year remaining?  That one gives me pause.

If I’m putting my Devils GM hat on, I’d also question how much of Ullmark’s success is system-based.  When he was in Buffalo, he was hot and cold; basically, he was a similar goalie to the ones they have now, ones that are good when they’re on and struggle mightily when they’re not.  I’m not saying Ullmark will go back to that Buffalo form but he might not be the Boston version with the Devils either.  If I have any hesitation about Ullmark being a top-end goalie in New Jersey’s system, trading a controllable young piece for him may not be the best approach.

From Boston’s perspective, it’s a bit more of a coin flip but this is what it comes down to for me.  Part of the Bruins’ success is derived from having two above-average and rested goalies on any given night, giving them the goaltending advantage way more often than not.  Take Ullmark out of the equation and it’s all resting on Jeremy Swayman, a player with about a year and a half worth of NHL games under his belt.  Is he ready to be a full-time number one and an every-game goalie in the playoffs?  If they’re not 100% confident the answer is yes, then I think they’d eventually lean to a no answer.  I don’t think they’re quite at a 100% confidence level for this season.

Granted, this swap would give them a young building block up front on a roster that doesn’t have a lot of those.  It also would give them $4MM or so in cap space to use down the stretch so if they had a deal to get a backup they trust in place and something to use the rest of that money on, then they might be a yes on this idea.  But since New Jersey probably isn’t, I don’t think this is a trade we’ll see in the coming days before it gets to the point where Ullmark is approached about waiving.

SkidRowe: Is there any way the Bruins can acquire Scott Laughton and would it be a good idea?

I’m going to answer these out of order.  Would it be a good idea to add Laughton?  I think it would.  He’s not a true top-six player in terms of offensive production but his defensive game makes him a high-end third option for a lot of teams.  Boston’s center depth isn’t the best and could certainly stand to be augmented.  Plus, a $3MM price tag for two years after this one is below market value and should be one that they can afford longer-term on the books.

That said, I don’t see how they could bring him in.  With the center market being thinned out, GM Daniel Briere can put a high asking price for Laughton’s services.  With a positive-value contract, it goes even higher.  At this point, I think the offer starts with a first-round pick plus some other assets.  The Bruins are already down a first rounder from last year’s Tyler Bertuzzi trade and they don’t have a second-round selection until 2026.  They also have a prospect pool that’s quite shallow thanks to several consecutive years of going for it.  Accordingly, are they the team that is going to be able to put together a package strong enough to get him?  I’m skeptical they’ll be able to do so.

gowings2008: Do you think the Red Wings use the deadline to add assets while also staying in the race? I’ve seen rumors of Perron being dealt to Edmonton which would allow Berggren to step in. A lateral move if you ask me, lineup-wise, but could earn the Red Wings some decent assets. They also have a surplus on defense and in net to deal from that wouldn’t necessarily hurt their playoff chances this year. What could some of these moves look like if they were to happen?

To answer the first part of your question, I don’t see them being too much of a buyer and a seller.  Detroit is sitting pretty comfortably in a playoff spot right now and moving away anything of consequence from its roster would be risky.

If someone wants to take James Reimer, sure.  That would yield a late-round draft pick and clear up a logjam.  But even on defense, I can’t see them moving one without getting one in return.  If they can get someone who’s a better fit, great.  Otherwise, unless they perceive value strictly from clearing someone like Olli Maatta or Justin Holl’s deal, it makes more sense to keep them.  If someone wants Klim Kostin with the hopes that they can get the version from a year ago, fine, make the move which again, wouldn’t yield much.  Otherwise, stick with (or add to) what you’ve got.  Moving David Perron feels like an unnecessary step back unless there’s a big swing coming and I don’t think there’s a big swing coming.

The Red Wings are in a nice spot at the moment.  They basically have a full set of draft picks to work with, a fairly deep prospect pool as a result of the recent selections they’ve made, and more cap space than any playoff-bound team.  If GM Steve Yzerman wants to play it conservatively, just use the cap room to take on an expiring contract or two to shore up the depth without giving up anything too valuable.  There will be several of those deals out there.  That can still be spun as buying and showing confidence in the group that you have while also realizing that this probably isn’t their year to truly be a contender.  I don’t expect too much from Detroit over the next few days to be honest but I suspect what they do will skew mostly toward the buying side.

Read more

There were plenty of Central Division questions for the mailbag so we’ll give that division the focus here.  The rest of the questions will be split into two more segments to run between now and next weekend.

Gmm8811: Thoughts on Doug Armstrong being a buyer or seller before the trade deadline? I don’t think he really has anything to offer that would be of interest to other teams. Scandella, Vrana, and Kapanen could probably be had for a minimal return. I’m also not opposed to Perunovich or Saad being moved. Any type of minor league assets or reserve list players would be acceptable. I don’t think the Blues will make the playoffs this year, so maybe a few tweaks to increase the depth might be useful for next year.

St. Louis is right in the think of the Wild Card race and unless they lose every game between now and the deadline, they’ll probably be right in the race on deadline day.  Having said that, this is not a team that anyone is going to call a contender so going big on adding doesn’t make sense.  And while they might want to sell, they don’t have much when it comes to rental players to move.

Marco Scandella might get a late-round pick with max retention.  Kasperi Kapanen might as well since he can kill penalties which gives him some fourth-line utility in the playoffs.  I’m not sure there’s a market for Jakub Vrana though.  One rental you didn’t mention was Sammy Blais.  I know he’s having a rough year but he’s a fourth liner who can hold his own at five-on-five and provide a lot of physicality.  Teams will be looking to add that and at $1MM, he’s on a contract most teams can afford.  Of the pending UFAs, he might have the most value.  I don’t think the return for Scott Perunovich would be high enough to justify moving him so I think he stays put.

Brandon Saad might be a tough sell with two more years left at $4.5MM.  He’s not on a bad contract but that’s a tough one for teams to fit in and St. Louis isn’t going to want to retain on him.  Unless it’s a player-for-player move, I suspect he stays put.  Pavel Buchnevich will be the big fish if Armstrong decides to sell and aim for missing the playoffs next year.  At $5.8MM, he’s pricey but he’s the type of impact top-six addition that is in short supply and high demand.

Money will be tight for St. Louis once Justin Faulk comes off LTIR so they’re in a spot where if they want to add, they also need to subtract.  It wouldn’t shock me if they moved Scandella with retention for a pick and then flipped that pick or one close to it elsewhere to maintain their depth so that if they do make the playoffs, they’ll have some options.

WilfPaiement: Marc-Andre Fleury was clobbered again on Tuesday night against Winnipeg and yet we keep hearing that a few likely playoff teams are showing interest. My question is who? And why? Fleury is toast and he won’t make any team better in the playoffs!!!!

I don’t think teams are necessarily showing interest in Fleury as someone they’d want to use a whole lot in the postseason.  But here’s a player who has several long playoff games under his belt (with three Stanley Cups), has plenty of postseason playing experience, and is known for being good in the room.  If I’m looking to add a piece that can either be an upgrade on my current backup or someone who can handle some extra games down the stretch and be an off-ice contributor as well, Fleury makes some sense.

Is that a particularly exciting profile of a player?  Not really.  Would Minnesota get a lot for him?  Probably not.  But if a team has a bit of money left or a need to try to do something between the pipes but doesn’t want to pay a high price, there’s a fit with Fleury.  Colorado makes some sense if they’re just looking for a stopgap backup upgrade but some work would need to be done to make the money work.

However, would Fleury want to go somewhere to be the designated bench door opener for the postseason?  There’s a lot of speculation that if that’s the role that a contender is envisioning for him, he might just opt to remain with his family in Minnesota and play out the season; it’s not as if they’re out of the playoff hunt by any stretch.  Teams know they’re not getting the Fleury of a decade ago but there’s a small set of circumstances where he might be the right fit if he’s willing to accept that role.  At this point, it doesn’t seem as if that will be the case.

wsendall: Any chance Arizona would listen to offers on Clayton Keller? He has a full no-trade that kicks in next year and Arizona still seems like they’re several years away and has tons of organizational uncertainty. He’s already asked some questions about the team’s direction and the possibility of having a frustrated star player in a year or two with a full no-trade wouldn’t be ideal. It would take a king’s ransom, but his value may never be higher prior to his no-trade kicking in.

I don’t think the Coyotes are at a point where they can unilaterally not listen to offers for anyone but I doubt GM Bill Armstrong has any inclination about dealing Keller away.  At 25, he’s the right age to be a ‘veteran’ in this rebuild and at $7.15MM through 2027-28, he’s at a pretty good price point for someone who’s near a point per game.  You’re absolutely correct that it would need to be a king’s ransom for it to even be considered but those types of deals are usually easier to make in the summer than at this point of the season.

Keller may justifiably have some questions about the state of this long-term rebuild.  However, I think the worst of it is over and it might very well be this offseason where the switch flips and Armstrong gets aggressive using his draft capital to try to add some core pieces, similar to the Sean Durzi acquisition last summer.  If that happens and they’re in the thick of the Wild Card race next season – not an unrealistic goal to set given where they are – then I expect some of that frustration might dissipate as he sees the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel.  I expect Keller sticks around for the long haul and certainly through the next two weeks.

DevilShark: What do you think Saros would cost? Both trade value and his next contract. Which teams can feasibly afford both?

Goalies are so hard to figure out on the trade value front.  I’d like to think Nashville could get a first-round pick and a quality young player for Saros since he has another year left at a team-friendly $5MM.  They probably would have to take back a salary or two as well which could theoretically then be flipped if need be.  That’s a lot for a netminder especially relative to some of the past deals for goalies but Saros is a top-end one so the return should be high.

Extension-wise, I’d have to think he’d look at Connor Hellebuyck’s seven-year, $59.5MM extension as a target.  Granted, he doesn’t have quite the accolades that Hellebuyck does but he’s also a little younger so there is a bit less risk when you look at it that way.  I don’t think he gets quite to an $8.5MM AAV but it could check in close to that unless next season resembles this one numbers-wise.  In that scenario, the next deal would start with a seven.

As for who could afford both, that’s a tough one.  I think New Jersey could although they’d need to move out Vitek Vanecek to make the money work for next year.  Buffalo can afford both but if they’re confident that Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and Devon Levi can be a winning tandem down the road, they don’t necessarily have the need to make a move like this.  If Detroit isn’t sold on Sebastian Cossa’s upside, they’d be an under-the-radar team that could afford to make that type of trade and they have the cap space that they could carry Ville Husso as a very expensive backup for a year.

I’d like to put Ottawa on this list as they’ve been trying everything they can to put together a quality goalie tandem short of actually acquiring a proven netminder.  In my mind, Saros could be a real difference-maker for them and they certainly have the prospect capital (or even some younger roster players) to make a move.  But they can’t make the money work this season unless they move out Joonas Korpisalo and with his contract and performance, that’s not likely happening.  Basically, there’s a reason the Devils have been the speculative fit for Saros as they might be the only realistic team that could add him now and have the ability to extend him later.

Read more