NHL Rumors: Montreal Canadiens, Vancouver Canucks, Dallas Stars

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. The new 2022-23 season will begin on October 13th, and trade rumors/signings are still prevalent. In this Wednesday edition of NHL Rumors, we will take a look at the Montreal Canadiens, Vancouver Canucks, and the Dallas Stars.

Montreal Canadiens – Brendan Gallagher

Rumor: Per – Stu Cowan – montrealhockeynow.com. Are the Montreal Canadiens trying to shop Gallagher? 

Gallagher has five seasons left on his six-year, $39-million contract that he signed in October 2020. If Gallagher can rebound from last season’s disappointing, injury-plagued performance, there’s a very good chance Canadiens GM Kent Hughes will trade the 30-year-old winger if he can find a partner. Cowan already speculated Hughes is “probably already trying to trade Gallagher as the Canadiens look to rebuild with youth and gain salary-cap space.”

With the Nick Suzuki captaincy, it’s an indication that the Habs are going forward with younger players. Gallagher knows that. Seeing that Gallagher will be 34 when his current deal expires, Hughes may see what the market will bear if he decides to deal his defenseman. That gets complicated when you consider he has a six-team no-trade list with that $6.5 million contract. Unless Hughes decides to retain part of Gallagher’s cap hit, or receive a good prospect or draft pick, it seems like Gallagher isn’t going anywhere.

Vancouver Canucks – Bo Horvat

Rumor: Per – Iain MacIntyre – sportsnet.ca. GM Patrik Allvin wants to sign Horvat to a contract extension.

MacIntyre feels that Horvat can get a raise from his current $5.5 million contract to about $7 million. The thing is the Canucks for this season are already over the cap limit of $82.5 million by $2.76 million. That means if they intend to re-sign their captain, they will need to have it kick in next season when they will have more space. That is… unless a trade is forthcoming to create more space.

Observing how the J.T. Miller contract talks went, Horvat could be signed when we least expect it. Keeping Horvat can certainly make the Canucks relevant. He tallied 31 goals, 21 assists in 70 games last season. And, 13 of his goals (or 42 percent) were on the power play. He is also an excellent faceoff contributor with an impressive 57 percent success rate. If the Canucks intend to be competing in the postseason again for the first time since the 2019-20 season, they will need Horvat around to assist with that endeavor.

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Dallas Stars – Jason Robertson

Rumor: Per – Elliotte Friedman/Jeff Marek – podcast.sportsnet.ca. What kind of contract will young star forward Jason Robertson get?

Both Friedman and Marek commented at the 21:40 mark of the podcast at where Robertson’s contract will fall. They both agreed that a three-year $7 million deal will be forthcoming. Robertson’s production certainly deserves that much of a deal. He had 41 goals (17.1 percent of team’s total goals), 38 assists in 74 games. On the power play he threw in 13 goals and was an accurate shooter with an 18.6 percent rate. His Corsi numbers are also off the chart with a 55.7 Corsi For and a 9.7 Relative Corsi For.

jason robertson is one hell of a second round pick pic.twitter.com/LxLWjuNufJ

— xavier (@dicnowder) July 25, 2022

If he isn’t worthy of an elevated contract, not sure who is.

“These RFA deals will often sit and wait, that’s kind of the nature of it,” Stars owner Tom Gaglardi said on the Cam & Strick Podcast. “We’ve got the cap space sitting, waiting for these guys. And so no, we’re not concerned about it. Those conversations are happening. I can’t tell you that a deal is imminent.”

“A kid in the third year of his entry-level (deal) puts up 40 goals, and now he wants to make $7 million,” Gaglardi said. “If you want term with that player, he’s going to take you higher than that … The stars are taking all the money, and the guys in the middle are getting squeezed.”

Wonder what Gaglardi thinks of the Tage Thompson and Tim Stützle extensions.

It seems that the Stars will have no choice but to satisfy Robertson. They need to consider the alternative… without him they may not be a playoff contender. Like most available restricted free agents, Robertson will need to wait it out… just a bit longer. In the end, the Stars will come to their senses.

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