NHL Rumors: Edmonton Oilers, San Jose Sharks, Calgary Flames

Welcome to the Saturday edition of Full Press Hockey‘s NHL Rumors. The trade deadline is still over six weeks away, but that does not mean the rumors are going away. Therefore we will be upping our coverage from two days a week to four days a week. The February 12th edition of NHL Rumors will cover the Edmonton Oilers, San Jose Sharks and Calgary Flames

Edmonton Oilers – Top 3-4 Defenceman

Rumor: According to Darren Dreger of TSN on Insider Trading, the Edmonton Oilers problems run deeper than their goaltending. The team is on the hunt for a top three-four right-shot defenceman.

ICYMI, INSIDER TRADING: #TSNHockey Insiders discuss…

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– Oilers’ blueline needs
– Could Lecavalier join Habs?
– Giroux taking time on deadline options
– Giordano, Kraken to talk soon
– Sens’ options with Paul
– Extended puck carrying on stick?

WATCH 🌍: https://t.co/WFQBoxxIG5 pic.twitter.com/jLBiH4xnZP

— TSN Hockey (@TSNHockey) February 11, 2022

The Edmonton Oilers have serious issues and it goes beyond their goaltending. While Mike Smith and Mikko Koskinen get a lot of the blame for the team’s issues this season. the real issue is the Oilers defence. As Darren Dreger noted on Insider Trading, the Oilers defence continues to give up quality scoring chances, which has affected the play of the goalies.

While the team would love to upgrade their goaltending position, general manager Ken Holland, who put his team in this position, stated the price might be too high. Though they will keep looking. Therefore, Holland is looking to add a right-shot defenceman to the group. Recall, the Oilers could not re-sign Adam Larsson, who was perfect for this team. They lost him via free agency. But the team cannot continue to rely on Cody Ceci, Tyson Barrie, and Evan Bouchard for the remainder of the season. Thus adding a defenceman on the right side has become Holland’s priority.

The Oilers have to do something as they continue to waste away the prime years of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.

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San Jose Sharks – Tomas Hertl

Rumor: Corey Masiask of The Athletic spoke with acting general manager Joe Nill and he made it clear his priority is to sign Tomas Hertl to extension and not trade him at the deadline.

Joe Will on a deadline for signing Tomas Hertl/potentially trading him: “Don’t have any interest in doing anything outside of just working on the negotiation and signing him.”

— Corey Masisak (@cmasisak22) February 10, 2022

One of the names that have been out there since the beginning of the season has been San Jose Sharks forward Tomas Hertl. The belief was that Hertl did not want to be a part of a rebuild in San Jose. However, according to acting general manager Joe Nill who has spoken with Hertl’s agent Craig Oster, Hertl wants to remain in San Jose.

It appears that both parties want to work out a deal that benefits both for the long-term if the dollars and cents work out. Though neither party has sat down for serious negotiations, Nill told reporters parameters are being discussed and specifics will be discussed later on. Hertl has 38 points in 46 games with the Sharks this season. Teams were calling on him as a depth forward that could score. But now Nill is not looking to trade the forward at the deadline instead using the potential cap space the team has to sign Hertl to a new deal.

San Jose has approximately $22 million in cap space to sign five players in the off-season. Again this number does not include the $7 million salary of Evander Kane. So there could potentially be more. But the good news for Sharks fans is Hertl and the Sharks want to work out a deal to keep him in San Jose.

Calgary Flames – Tyler Toffoli

Rumor: According to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet on the Jeff Marek, the Calgary Flames have an interest in trading for Tyler Toffoli.

Listening to the podcast carefully, Friedman states a lot of teams are already pencilling Toffoli to go to the Flames. The Flames are looking for secondary scoring help and Toffoli fits the mould. Plus there is a familiarity with head coach Darryl Sutter, who coached Toffoli in Los Angeles.

Not to mention Toffoli will fit nicely with the Flames current mix of forwards as he has played with Sean Monahan, Chris Tanev, and Jacob Markstrom before. Plus Toffoli has shown he can make an impact in the playoffs. Not only did he do that with the Kings, in their run to the 2014 Stanley Cup Championship, but with the Canadiens in their run to the final in 2021.

The good thing for the Flames is that Toffoli does not have trade protection in his contract. So with the Montreal Canadiens being sellers at the deadline, this player could be on the move. Toffoli is in the second year of four year contract that carries a cap hit of $4.25 million. The Flames are up against it as they could add a player that makes $2.84 million for the rest of the season. If the Canadiens were to retain some salary, this is a deal that could work out. But if the Flames did trade for Toffoli, that might mean a player like Andrew Mangiapane might not get re-signed.

That concludes this edition of Full Press Hockey’s NHL rumors. Be sure to look for our NHL Rumors article on Sunday.