NHL Rumors: Boston Bruins, Edmonton Oilers, Los Angeles Kings

Welcome to another edition of Full Press Hockey’s NHL Rumors! The NHL Draft is history, and every team has high hopes for the prospects they added. Now, with free agency moves mostly done, rumors are still around. Clubs are always working to improve their rosters for next season. Some teams are having difficulty creating enough cap space to make moves. Others are experiencing severe injuries to star players. In this Sunday edition of NHL Rumors, we will take a look at the Boston Bruins, Edmonton Oilers, and the Los Angeles Kings.

Boston Bruins – David Pastrnak

Rumor: Per – Rob Couch – nhltraderumors.com. Will David Pastrnak seek success on a new team?

Discussing team accomplishments, Pastrnak had this to say, “I’m going into my ninth season and I haven’t won anything yet. Time flies and I regret it every year.” While it’s true that he is signed through this upcoming season at a $6.67 million cap hit, he wants more… more team success. It’s clear that the Bruins have not exactly defined success over Pastrnak’s stay in Beantown. In his eight seasons in the NHL, the Bruins have missed the playoffs twice (his first two with the team), lost in the first round twice, finished second round three times, and lost in the Stanley Cup Final one time. Some teams may find that as great. But Pasta may seek another team to get to the level of success he seeks.

On the injury front, players like Brad Marchand, Charlie McAvoy, and Matt Grzelcyk will start the season on injury reserve and that may last for some time. Even with Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci on one-year deals that helps the cap limit for the Bruins, will Pasta be patient and wait things out? He may get antsy and want to move on. Of course with his statistics showing 40 goals and 37 assists in 72 games last season and his playoff success of 74 points in 70 games while in Boston, his price will go up.

It may not be until the trade deadline that we know if Pasta wants out. He like many stars like Johnny Gaudreau and Nazem Kadri may be able to write their own ticket to success.

Edmonton Oilers – Patrick Kane

Rumor: Per – Kurt Leavins – edmontonjournal.com. Would Patrick Kane like to play alongside Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl? 

The quick answer is OF COURSE! Who wouldn’t? Just the thought of Patrick Kane, McDavid, and Draisaitl attacking the defensive zone of any NHL team would put them into shock. Of course, getting down to the nitty-gritty to make such a move would take some extreme effort from their general manager Ken Holland. According to Leavins, it would take “a #1 pick and a good prospect, plus-plus.”

Oilersnation.com’s Jason Grego pointed out he’s only earning $2.9 million in actual salary for the coming season. The Blackhawks would have to retain 50 percent of his $10.5 million cap hit in a trade. Chicago already paid his $4 million signing bonus in July.

Gregor’s theory is that the Oilers can’t afford to acquire the remaining 50 percent. He thinks they’d have to get a third team involved, pointing out the Arizona Coyotes are “always willing to take on money for draft picks”. And, he’s correct since the Coyotes are rebuilding and looking for draft assets wherever they may be found.

Under that scenario, the Oilers would only take on $2.65 million of his cap hit and $725K in actual salary. Gregor speculates it would cost the Oilers a late-round pick and a second-tier prospect to the Coyotes to make it happen.

According to Grego, here’s how the money and cap hit would work with three teams.

Chicago trades Kane to Arizona and retains $5.25 million cap hit and $1.45 million in actual salary. Arizona would then trade Kane to Edmonton. What the Blackhawks may get in return could be one of Jesse Puljujarvi or Warren Foegele has to go to make the cap work for Edmonton. Will it happen? Time will tell, and Full Press Hockey’s NHL rumors will be all over it.

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Los Angeles Kings – Phil Kessel

Rumor: Per – Mike Stephens – thehockeynews.com. Will Phil Kessel sign with the Los Angeles Kings?

As time quickly advances towards training camp time for the NHL, Kessel remains as the top free agent forward yet to sign a deal for the new season. The three teams Stephens mentioned as possibilities for Kessel are the Edmonton Oilers, Dallas Stars, and Los Angeles Kings. While the Stars have the most cap space with $10,335,834, they have to sign Jake Oettinger and Jason Robertson, which could take most of that cap space. The Oilers are in cap space trouble as well with a deficit of -$6,031,333. That leaves the Kings who don’t have much more with $1,513,333 at their disposal.

With Phil’s accelerated age of 34, he must realize that he will only receive in the $2 million range for a new contract. The Kings could really use his playmaking abilities and veteran knowledge to mentor the younger Kings. Phil would thrive perfecting in Tinseltown where the weather is mild and golf is prevalent. It just seems that if he can work out a deal acceptable to both parties, Kessel would be a big hit in Hollywood. I mean, it fits his personality and the Kings could throw him on the third line and watch him produce, especially on the power play, his specialty. The big question will be… is Hollywood ready for Phil? We’ll see.

That concludes this edition of NHL rumors. Be sure to check back for our next article, and thanks for reading!