NHL Rumors: New Jersey Devils, Pittsburgh Penguins, St. Louis Blues

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 Sunday edition of NHL Rumors, we will take a look at the New Jersey Devils, Pittsburgh Penguins, and the St. Louis Blues.

New Jersey Devils – Johnny Gaudreau, Matthew Tkachuk

Rumor: Per – Pierre LeBrun – theathletic.com. How close did the Devils come to signing Gaudreau or Tkachuk? 

The Devils GM Tom Fitzgerald almost pulled off acquiring not only Johnny Gaudreau but also Matthew Tkachuk in free agency this summer. Fitzgerald was on the phone with both Gaudreau and his wife around 12:15 p.m. Eastern in the opening minutes of free agency July 13th to express the organization’s interest. And, yes, the Devils made an offer, although I don’t think it was the kind of double-digit average-annual-value offer that would have closed the deal. So, Gaudreau instead chose the Columbus Blue Jackets.

On the Tkachuk front, he gave the Devils a list of teams including the Colorado Avalanche, Tampa Bay Lightning, Florida Panthers, Carolina Hurricanes, Vegas Golden Knights, and St. Louis Blues. So, the Devils struck out again, but don’t count them out. They still have added Ondrej Palat, Vitek Vanecek, John Marino, and Erik Haula. Combined with the development of Nico Hischier, Jack Hughes, and Dawson Mercer, the Devils will be more competitive even without Gaudreau or Tkachuk.

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Pittsburgh Penguins – Patrick Kane

Rumor: Per – Shane Seney – thehockeywriters.com. The Penguins have the trade assets to land Patrick Kane.

Seney proposes that the Penguins could be involved in the Kane sweepstakes, considering the assets they possess. We all know (even GM Ron Hextall) that it will require a first-round pick to start the bidding. While Hextall may not like losing a first-rounder, he must realize that will be necessary to culminate a deal for Kane. It will also be paramount for the Blackhawks to retain half of Kane’s $10.5 million contract.

After the draft pick, two players who could be offered up may be defenseman Pierre-Olivier Joseph and goalie Filip Lindberg. Joseph has the potential of being a regular on the blueline and hasn’t been able to get much ice time with the Penguins. He’s only appeared in 20 games over the past two seasons collecting one goal and four assists. With Marcus Pettersson and Ty Smith getting most of the playing time, Joseph is the guy left out.

The Blackhawks aren’t exactly oozing with talent in net with Petr Mrazek and Alex Stalock manning the goaltending duties. Adding Filip Lindberg a 23-year-old prospect out of Finland couldn’t hurt. He played two seasons at UMASS where he compiled a 18-6-6 record with an impressive .938 save percentage and a 1.57 goals-against-average. He also had a 4-2 record with a .915 save percentage and a 2.76 goals-against-average with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in the AHL.

St. Louis Blues – Ryan O’Reilly contract extension

Rumor: Per – Elliotte Friedman/Jeff Marek – sportsnet.com. After signing both Robert Thomas and Jordan Kyrou to identical eight-year deals, is O’Reilly next?

With O’Reilly turning 32 next February will Blues GM Doug Armstrong want to invest in a long-term contract for this talented forward? He’s receiving $7.5 million through this next season, and the Blues will only have about $16 million in cap space to be able to re-sign O’Reilly and Vladimir Tarasenko who is also earning $7.5 million. It could come down to one or the other player remaining in St. Louis. Tarasenko has had many NHL rumors heading his direction, so we shall see how it goes.

Losing a valuable two-way player like O’Reilly doesn’t seem palatable, but you never know. He has certainly proven his worth with his stats. In 287 games in a Blues’ uniform, he has tallied 85 goals and 165 assists. He also has added 21 power play goals and 47 assists. His 13.1 percent shooting accuracy would be hard to replace. He is very tough in the face-off circle as well with a 57.1 percent success rate.

Armstrong may have some sleepless nights trying to determine the future of Ryan O’Reilly.

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