NHL Rumors: Philadelphia Flyers, Vancouver Canucks, Arizona Coyotes

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 7th, and trade rumors/signings are still prevalent. In this Wednesday’s edition of NHL Rumors, we will take a look at the Philadelphia Flyers, Vancouver Canucks, and the Arizona Coyotes.

Philadelphia Flyers – Sean Couturier

Rumor: Per – Anthony SanFilippo – crossingbroad.com. According to SanFilippo, a Flyers writer, star center Sean Couturier will miss significant time to start the season after suffering a herniated disc in his back during strength and conditioning drills last week.

Sean Couturier to Miss Significant Time for Flyers with Another Back Injury https://t.co/QHZXPTzN7z

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— Crossing Broad (@CrossingBroad) September 19, 2022

This is certainly a severe blow to the Flyers’ chances of improving this season. Other injuries to the Flyers just make matters worse. Young prospect Bobby Brink will miss the first few months due to a torn labrum in his left hip. Then, Ryan Ellis‘ return from a pelvic injury is still unknown. Finally, Joel Farabee is still recovering from surgery for a disc replacement.

It will significantly test the abilities and patience of newly hired head coach John Tortorella. He will be forced to rely upon a couple of PTO signings to see if he can glue back together what’s left of his roster. The Flyers have forwards Antoine Roussel and Artem Anisimov on PTOs to attempt to fill the gaps. Roussel may provide toughness and grit, but not much in the way of offense. Anisimov was a solid two-way center that you could rely on for 20 goals and around 40 points, though that seems like quite a while ago now. The last time he broke that 20-goal mark was in 2017-18 with the Blackhawks, and even then he had just 31 points on the year.

It goes without saying that Tortorello will have a huge challenge to get the Flyers healthy let alone competitive.

Vancouver Canucks – Ethan Bear

Rumor: Per –Iain MacIntyre – sportsnet.ca. As the Canucks continue to seek help on defense ahead of the regular season, a name on the radar is Carolina Hurricanes RD Ethan Bear. 

As the Canucks continue to seek help on defence ahead of the regular season, a name on the radar is Carolina Hurricanes RD Ethan Bear.

The 25 yo former Oiler is on a one-year contract at $2.2M and will be an RFA in 2023.

— Iain MacIntyre (@imacSportsnet) September 18, 2022

Bear struggled in his first season with the Hurricanes. He suffered a bout with COVID-19 that subsequently hampered his performance. If he’s no longer suffering any lingering ill effects, he could be a worthwhile pickup if available. The 25-year-old native of Regina, Saskatchewan had only five goals and nine assists in 58 games last season. The Canucks would need to make some moves before the season begins to afford Bear’s contract since they are already $2.76 million over the cap limit.

The Oilers are $6.79 million over the cap limit but will have Mike Smith ($2.2M) and Oscar Klefbom ($4.167M) possibly on LTIR. Still, the Edmonton club has invited veteran defenseman Jason Demers on a PTO and he would be much cheaper than Bear. We will need to see how this NHL rumor pans out.

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Arizona Coyotes – Jakob Chychrun/Barrett Hayton

Rumor: Per – Mark Easson – nhlrumors.com. Despite all the trade speculation, Arizona Coyotes defenseman Jakob Chychrun is expected to be in training camp.

After what seems like an eternity, it now appears that Chychrun will be in a Coyotes’ uniform to begin training camp shortly. He may not be too happy that he wasn’t dealt, but GM Bill Armstrong has stuck to his return demands and no trade has been worked out as of yet.

“It is what it is,” Armstrong said. “Jakob is a great kid. We’ve had continued, healthy conversations throughout the summer, trying to make sure that he was on the right track to be healthy. He’s a professional. He’s a pro’s pro. He’s been good in that element, and we continue to have great conversations with him and encourage him to be at his best when training camp opens.”

While Chychrun rumors have subsided, nothing seems to be getting done on a contact for fifth-overall draft choice of 2018 Barrett Hayton.

“We’re in a staring contest. It’s hard on the player. Barrett is a great player, someone that we really like. It’s just doing business and working with his agency, trying to get a deal done.”

“It’s just one of those things where it’s kind of dragged on. It’s unfortunate. We’d like to have everything wrapped up by this point, but at the same time, everybody thinks we have this massive amount of money in the salary cap.”

Hayton had his best season last year coming in with 10 goals and 14 assists in 60 games. With training camp set to begin September 21st, will Hayton be a holdout?

** UPDATE ON HAYTON

Hearing that the Coyotes have signed RFA C Barrett Hayton to a two-year contract with an AAV of $1.75 million.
Hayton will be in camp and available at media day..

— Not the country music singer Craig Morgan (@CraigSMorgan) September 20, 2022

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