NHL Rumors: Toronto Maple Leafs, Pittsburgh Penguins, St. Louis Blues

Welcome to another special edition of Full Press Hockey’s NHL Rumors! The NHL Draft is history, and every team has high hopes with the prospects they added. Needless to say, leading up to the NHL Draft rumors were abound. Clubs are always working to improve their rosters for next season. In this special Sunday edition of NHL Rumors, we will take a look at the Toronto Maple Leafs, Pittsburgh Penguins, St. Louis Blues.

Toronto Maple Leafs – Goalie Situation

Rumor: Per – Shane Seney – nhltraderumors.me. Maple Leafs considering 3 goalie options. They now believe they can go after any goaltender in the league with their newfound financial flexibility.

After general manager Kyle Dubas was able to ship out Petr Mrazek ($3.8M) in a draft-day move, he now has some breathing room to attempt to fill his goaltending needs. There are three candidates from which he can choose.

1. Re-sign Jack Campbell who is asking for a salary above the $5 million mark. He also may want some assurance that a longer-term four or five-year deal provides. Dubas now has about $10 million to work with, but besides Campbell, he has a few other players he needs to address. Dubas was scheduled to meet with ‘Soup’ to see what they could work out. There is a good likelihood he gets re-signed here.
2. Trade for John Gibson. While there are conflicting stories out there as to his desire to leave the Anaheim Ducks, he could be a quality netminder for the Leafs. He makes $6.4 million through the 2026-27 season and really doesn’t show great stats, primarily due to him playing on a mediocre team.
3. Sign Darcy Kuemper. He is being pursued by several teams including the Washington Capitals. If he can accept a bit lower salary of not more than $5.5 million, perhaps the Maple Leafs could entertain having a Stanley Cup winner in their net.

Another outside possibility could be Matt Murray. His play has deteriorated and he owns a $6.25 million no-movement contract through the 2023-24 season. Ottawa would need to retain some salary for sure if the Leafs wanted to add him to their roster.

Pittsburgh Penguins – Evgeni Malkin

Rumor: – Per – Shane Seney – nhltraderumors.me. In order to re-sign Malkin, general manager Ron Hextall will need to make a trade or two. Malkin may settle for a four-year deal worth $7 million AAV. The pressure is on Hextall as the powers to want Malkin back on the team. So does Sidney Crosby.

Marcus Pettersson and Brian Dumoulin could be the players being considered to be traded. Pettersson is priority number one as he’s signed through three more seasons at $4.02 million annually. With just $15.3 million to work with presently, that won’t be enough to sign Malkin plus others needing new deals. Others like Rickard Rakell, Kasperi Kapanen, and Evan Rodrigues.

Hextall’s comments are below.

The very latest from Ron Hextall on Geno Malkin: pic.twitter.com/yKVj8dLXfM

— Josh Yohe (@JoshYohe_PGH) July 8, 2022

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St. Louis Blues – Vladimir Tarasenko

Rumor: Per – Frank Seravalli – dailyfaceoff.com. Tarasenko led the team in scoring and has not rescinded his trade request. One team may be interested in his services. His salary is $7.5 million for one more season.

That team may be the Carolina Hurricanes. After losing stud defenseman Anthony DeAngelo to free agency, the ‘Canes could have some interest in the Blues defensemen Brady Skjei and Brett Pesce. Carolina has $19.3 million in cap space and adding an offensive star like Tarasenko could really boost their desire to go further in the postseason. He tallied 34 goals and 48 assists in 75 games for the Blues. He then added six goals and three assists in 12 playoff games.

While Tarasenko’s time in St. Louis has not been ideal, the Blues should definitely venture into getting something for him in a trade. The only issue may be paying him for a new contract after it expires at the conclusion of next season. It seems that Tarasenko is done in St. Louis and wants to move on to bigger things. But GM Doug Armstrong holds the cards here as he does not have to move Tarasenko right away. He can wait until the right deal comes along.

That does it for our second edition of Sunday NHL rumors! We hope you’ll continue to stick with us for all the latest happenings in the NHL.