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Just as summer begins to heat up, so does the NHL trade rumor mill. Funny thing, that.
There are a handful of times each season when the rumblings begin to pick up, and the weeks between the end of the Stanley Cup Final and the entry draft are one of them.
Thirty general managers will be riding a wave of adrenaline after witnessing the Washington Capitals win a championship, thinking about their respective team doing the same thing this time next year.
“How do we get there?” is the prevailing question, and trades, free agency and the draft essentially make up the answer.
It’s all about making the right moves, of course, and there are a handful of talented players who are rumored to be available for the right price.
Vegas Golden Knights Still Chasing Erik Karlsson?
The Vegas Golden Knights came ridiculously close to landing Erik Karlsson at the trade deadline earlier this year. So close, in fact, that the organization actually believed they had sealed the deal.
General manager George McPhee was willing to push a lot of chips to the middle of the table for the defenseman in late February, and that was before his team made it all the way to the Stanley Cup Final.
Don’t expect to see the Golden Knights sell the farm to land the blueliner—mostly because they don’t have much of a farm to sell at this point—but Vegas will likely be emboldened by their lengthy run in the postseason.
NHL insider Elliotte Friedman touched on that subject in the latest edition of his 31 Thoughts column:
“The Golden Knights came close to acquiring Erik Karlsson at the deadline. After seeing how the Capitals locked down the neutral zone and point men in the final, you can see how they might revisit something like this.
“Word is one of the biggest hang-ups at the end was Cody Glass, drafted sixth overall last June. Vegas didn’t want to include him.
“The Knights have just one pick in the top three rounds (a second), and since they are still creating a prospect pool, a Karlsson deal could be tricky. It’s why they’re being linked to John Carlson because he only costs you money.”
While a Karlsson-to-Vegas swap would be fun, there just might not be enough assets available to McPhee to make it happen. Who knows for sure, though. Maybe they end up budging on Glass, thus making the trade possible.
Corey Perry’s Days With the Anaheim Ducks May Be Numbered
The Anaheim Ducks are in the wrong division if they want to continue to play a slower, more grind-oriented style of hockey.
Several of the NHL’s fastest teams reside in the Pacific, including the Golden Knights and the Edmonton Oilers, which has general manager Bob Murray looking to get faster.
He spoke about that need for speed during Anaheim’s locker cleanout day in late April, per Eric Stephens of the Orange County Register, saying that “…if your team plays fast, you can make players faster. And that’s the first thing that has to be addressed around here.”
That is part of the reason why Corey Perry is holding down the 25th spot on TSN’s trade bait board. The other part of the reason is that it is believed the Ducks have asked the 33-year-old for his list of teams he wouldn’t accept a trade to.
Kyusung Gong/Associated Press
Frank Seravalli of TSN wrote:
“It is believed the Anaheim Ducks asked former Hart Trophy winner Corey Perry (25) for a list of teams he’d accept a trade to at some point last season. He is due $24 million over the next three years. The Ducks may want to tinker with their core, but Perry’s contract won’t be easy to move and he holds all the cards.”
As Seravalli noted, there are various obstacles standing in the way of a possible trade involving the triple gold club member, but stranger things have happened.
There are always a few teams around the league trying to win games with toughness, so there may be a taker for Perry, who can still produce solid numbers but doesn’t have as large an impact on games as he used to.
Vegas Could Be Looking at Mike Hoffman
We already examined the possibility of the Golden Knights going after Karlsson this summer, but he’s not the only player from Ottawa who may interest them.
Mike Hoffman is also rumored to be available, and he would be a real upgrade to a scoring core that is already quick and deadly.
Micah Blake McCurdy @IneffectiveMath
Mike Hoffman’s a genuine top-line scorer over a long stretch, it’s no wonder teams want to trade for him. https://t.co/1jgMhkcn7d
The Senators don’t have draft picks in the second or third rounds of this year’s draft, and the belief is they would like to get back into those rounds.
Vegas hasn’t been shy about shedding its excess of draft selections via trades, and while it’s unlikely the team move their own second-rounder, they may be able to acquire more picks which McPhee could then flip for Hoffman.
Vegas has the one thing all the top teams in the league do not, and that’s a silly amount of cap space. McPhee could take on one or two dead-money contracts—think Marian Hossa and players such as that—along with a high selection to make something work.
Friedman discussed the possibility of Hoffman being moved for draft picks on Sportsnet (h/t FRSHockey.com).
“The other one too is Hoffman. I do think there’s something going on there,” he said. “Ottawa has two first-rounders this year and then they don’t have another pick until the fourth round, so I can see them trying to add that in. I think Hoffman could be a guy they would consider moving.”
There’s always a possibility that nothing materializes, but there’s a lot of smoke between Vegas and Ottawa as we gear up for the draft.
Could those two organizations be hammering out some sort of massive trade involving Karlsson, Hoffman, draft picks—Vegas has 12 picks in the first three rounds across the next three drafts—and prospects?
Maybe. Maybe not, but there’s a lot of buzz building considering it’s only the second week of June.
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