We’re just a few games away from this year’s Stanley Cup champion being crowned and less than a month away from the draft and free agency. As such, the draft and trade rumor cycle is shifting into high gear. That makes it a great time for the next edition of our mailbag.
Last time, our mailbag was split into three parts. Among other topics, the first covered the likelihood of a Sean Monahan extension in Winnipeg, the second dealt with some Mitch Marner trade speculation, and the last looked over some potential bargain options on the UFA market.
You can submit a question by using #PHRMailbag on Twitter/X or by leaving a comment down below. The mailbag will run on the weekend.
Do the Rangers stand pat or make moves to improve the team via trades or free agent signings?
Do you see the Rangers moving on from Trouba? What could you see as the additional assets given to get him off the books?
Maybe a team like Utah could be a fit given they have no D under contract for next season. $8M for 2 seasons isn’t too bad for a team to get a physical player who offers leadership. They need to spend some money and he likely won’t provide a cap crunch for them by the time contract expires.
Thanks!
I think the Tigers should make every effort to sign Flaherty to an extension. A solid veteran whose career has changed with Fetter as his pitching coach and I believe would like to stay a Tiger for a good payday.
Sorry I meant to put this on MLB Trade Rumors
Josh, please answer this one anyway. X’D
If Chicago takes Artyom Levshunov second overall, who do you think the Ducks will take? They’ve said they need both a right handed defenseman and right handed wing. Do they attempt to get that at number 3 or take the guy they think is the best available player even tho they’re loaded with left handed defenders?
How would you rate the Flyers rebuild? Besides the hype of Michkov, how soon might Gendron, Bonk, Barkey, Tuomaala, Rizzo, and McDonald play in the NHL? How would you rate the farm system overall? Thanks!
Which team that made the playoffs this year is in for the biggest hurt over the next 10 years when you look at a combo of current roster, prospect pool and draft pick stock?
Thinking of Parise, Suter, Panarin,Tkachuk, Tavares, Petrangelo, Bobrovsky, Pavelksi etc… big names that walked for nothing in return for their teams… in general how critical has this been to the demise of former teams – I.e. how critical is it that GMs don’t get themselves in this situation?
I made a mistake, Tkachuk was a sign n trade. Point stands though :-)
Johnny Hockey is who walked from CGY – my bad.
Are the Devils better or worse after?
Sign Anthony Stolarz: 3 year, 8.25 mil @ AAV 2.75 mil
Sign Nikita Zadorov: 5 year, 30 mil @ AAV 6 mil
Sign Dakota Joshua: 3 year, 9 mil @ AAV 3 mil
Trade Holtz and Bahl to SEA for Adam Larsson
Draft Cole Eiserman @ 10th
So let’s talk about CapFriendly… where we gonna go now to find that kind of information? Maybe your site will expand it’s content? Also, any updates on what is going on with the players involved in the Hockey Canada mess?
Puckpedia, of course.
It’s certainly something we’re discussing (we were before the CF sale happened, too), but it will likely take a while to implement. It’s kicked up the urgency level, though. We’re always looking to provide more resources to make PHR a one-stop shop for everybody transaction-wise in a way that makes sense.
Why didn’t the NHL buy CF? Daly and his chimp sleeping at the wheel.
Why would they have?
Draft question!
Assuming the Preds are looking for a forward who is a drive the play type player, who would you be looking at as likely available at the #22 spot at the Draft? I’m leaning towards Sacha Boisvert, fwiw.
Who is in the DoPS and why is the most consistent thing about their work its unpredictability?
Two part question.
1. Who should be the one player, Be it trade, UFA signing, Or RFA signing the Blackhawks should target this off season?
2. I think Silayev would be worthy of one of the Hawks two 2nd round picks as a draft and stash, Do you think anybody would risk a #1 pick on him knowing he’s probably not coming until 2026?
Thanks as always.
I guess the experts are saying that he will will go in the top 5. I think that’s a very risky proposition so I guess Silayev is off the table. I suppose it depends on if they’ve talked to him and what HIS intentions are so forget #2. Thanks
I’ll just cover your first question in one of the upcoming columns but I wanted to comment on Silayev’s situation quickly. I don’t really see it as much of a risk. Most college-bound players are two or more years away, so are major junior players. So why is it more risky for Silayev, a player who’s under contract for two more years and is telling teams he intends to come to North America after that? The longer-term timeline is still the same as it is for pretty much everyone else.
Panarin straight up for Marner. NTCs notwithstanding, who says no? Fills organizational holes for each, and opens up first-line LW for Lafreniere. Panarin’s a little better but Marner is a little younger. Similar contracts.
Trouba to Hockey Club Sibir Novosibirsk Oblast for two pucks and a mouthguard. Who says no? The mouthguard?
IMHO Panthers hockey is boring hockey. It’s not the clutch-and-grab of the Brodeur Devils but the dump-and-chase-and-hem-them-in game is boring to watch. There are barely any breaks, barely any numbers going each way. The fact that Connor McDavid is a non-factor in the series is basically the worst thing for the NHL. Is there any possibility the NHL will make any rule changes based on the dullness that they tried to steer away from with trap-game 2000s-era hooking amendments? Or are we to endure teams trying to emulate the Cats’ game? Are we doomed to playoff hockey where 12 shots against per game is the norm?
Have you watched Florida games? I’m very confused. They have a strong defensive game, but they also drive the net with a strong roster of power forwards and manage to score unlikely goals. The Datsyuk/Yzerman/Federov cycle game looks sexier, sure, but as a longtime Sharks fan, I can tell you it’s incredibly frustrating to watch when goal scoring chances are passed up on because the shooting lane isn’t perfect enough. This is why San Jose and Joe Thornton do not have a Stanley Cup.
Yeah, I’ve been watching. I’m fine with their defensive zone game. Blocked shots are interesting. But they rarely give up offensive zone time. Their shot attempt differential is unreal. Which would be fine if it was open-ice hockey.
But it’s literally dump, flank the wingers, block the breakout, knock it in the corner, push the puck up against the boards behind the net, and hold it there while everyone jabs at the puck. They do that for two periods. By the third period, the other team is so frustrated and tired from being in the zone, that a puck comes to Verhaeghe or Montour (or Rodrigues haha) and they snipe one past the opposing goalie. You haven’t heard the announcers talk about the “grind ’em down style” that the Panthers play?
I know it’s smart hockey and it’s up to the other coach to counter it, but it’s truly boring. Hockey’s never going to grow if that’s the game. I played, so I get it, it’s the game, but my friends who are casual fans and were interested in the other, more fun series, are out on the finals and would rather watch the boring basketball games.
Sounds like you don’t like defense. Panthers play great defense.
Defense wins championships.
That’s not what I said. Great defense is amazing. I love good sticks. I love blocked shots. I love taking away lanes. That’s all defensive zone stuff. I said I don’t like the strategy of dumping and hemming on the boards ad nauseum until I fall asleep.
They made changes to eliminate the neutral zone trap because it was boring.
The idea is to do what you do best and coach to your teams strengths. Panthers strengths are power forwards, Solid defensemen and most of all a healthy BOB. To me that’s awesome coaching. I love watching it and watching it work. It’s not boring at all.
The worst thing for the NHL would be to hand a Cup to McDavid for no better reason than that he’s the league’s best player. If Edmonton has no answers to Florida’s play, then the Oilers deserve to lose. Which they’ve been doing.
Me, I found the 1980s and all those 9-6 games boring as hell. For those people who want unlimited (and meaningless) offense, tune into basketball games instead.
What is Patrik Laine’s future? Will he be traded? Is Laine’s contract a negative value? If so, will Waddell need to add a sweetener to trade Laine? Or, will Laine’s contract get traded for a better yet still not very good contract plus a sweetener (for example: Josh Anderson plus Struble)?
Since hindsight is 20/20, who won the Tkachuk-Huberdeau trade? I gotta imagine Florida wins that one by a mile, but can we prove it with numbers? I distinctly remember the Florida fanbase having an absolute meltdown, “Tkachuk is just a mid power forward without Gaudreau!” But in watching this guy the past couple years, I personally think he’s become my favourite player since Paul Kariya.
Still gotta get me a Kariya #9 Ducks jersey…
And speaking of the other casualty of Calgary’s cap crunch, what does Johnny Gaudreau need to be successful going forward in Columbus?
Do you think Carter Yakemchuk is NHL-ready or does he need AHL seasoning?
So if all goes as expected and the Hawks draft Levshunov and let him go back to school, Since the Hawks promoted Korchinski and he was over matched that first year. But Korchinski wasn’t going to school so they had no choice because of that stupid rule about Juniors players not being promoted to the AHL because they’re too young. Any rule that keeps someone from playing up to their potential seems stupid to me. I get why the Juniors teams want the rule, I don’t get why the NHL agreed to it. Do you ever see them changing that rule? It seems kind of dumb to send guys back to play against lower talent, How does that help the players? I think that rule needs changing. Thoughts?
Can you paraphrase the rule, and please?
The way I understand it is Canadian Players that are under 20 can only play Canadian Jr. Hockey until they are at least 19. The exception being if they go to college or play in the ECHL or UCHL. Not really sure what the distinctions are. They are not eligible to play in the AHL because of an agreement between the Jr. Teams and the NHL so they don’t poach Canadian Players and ruin the Jr. System which is free Minor League teams for the NHL. There is supposed to be room for exceptions though. So the Hawks had Korchinski who was 18 and had just won the Jr. Championship so there was no reason for him to go back there and was too young to play in the AHL. So they had to let him play in the NHL where he was a bit over matched. There has to be a way to let these guys play in their own level of competition. So this rule or agreement or whatever it is needs tweaking IMO.
Doesn’t really apply to Levshunov anyway because he isn’t Canadian BTW. And the way I hear it he wants to go back to school anyway.
And the CHL isn’t going to sign off on it, generally. They WANT their marquee players in Kelowna and Oshawa and Quebec City, not in Springfield or Hershey or Rochester. And most of their cities are fighting for warm bodies in the stands: only seven teams in all of major junior broke 5,000 a night, a mark over twenty AHL cities managed.
what would it cost detroit to move holl ?