NHL Rumors: Dallas Stars, Carolina Hurricanes, Minnesota Wild

Welcome to another edition of Full Press Hockey’s NHL Rumors! The 2022-23 season is over, and players and front offices will be evaluated. Now, the focus shifts toward the new season.

In this Sunday edition of NHL Rumors, we will examine the Dallas Stars, Carolina Hurricanes, and the Minnesota Wild.

NHL rumors in this edition include:

Will the Stars try to acquire Jeff Petry? Could Patrick Kane be heading to the Canes? A new team may be interested in Noah Hanifin.

Dallas Stars – Jeff Petry

Rumor: Per – Chris Johnston – @spdnsports. Will the Dallas Stars be interested in acquiring Jeff Petry? 

At about the 13:12 mark of Johnston’s show, he discusses the team to watch for to add Petry is the Dallas Stars. That can especially become a reality if the Habs retain some of Petry’s $4.658 million salary. That was the portion after the Pittsburgh Penguins retained $1.56 million in the three-team trade involving Erik Karlsson. That would make Petry’s salary in the $2.3 million range, affordable for the Stars to consider. The Stars currently have exceeded the cap limit of $83.5 million by -$317,829. 

That would mean that GM Jim Nill must shed some cap space to add Petry to his roster. The Stars have been searching for a top-four right-shot defenseman all offseason, and Petry’s cap hit can drop drastically if the Montreal Canadiens retain some of his salary. The Dallas club had shown interest in Petry before the Pens traded him to Montreal.

Carolina Hurricanes –  Trade defense for offense?

Rumor: Per – Bryant Baucom – carolinahockeynow.com. After missing out on Karlsson, will the Canes try to add Patrick Kane? What will it cost them?

With just $920,583 in cap space, to make a move to increase the offense, a defenseman must be sacrificed. The Hurricanes have added to their blueline by bringing back Anthony DeAngelo and signing free agent Dmitry Orlov to a two-year deal for $7.75 million AAV. Then, they recently signed free agent Caleb Jones for a mere $775,000. They also have two very capable defensemen in Brady Skjei and Brett Pesce. It would seem that with eight defensemen on the roster, they can afford to move one to add to the offensive unit.

Both Skjei and Pesce will become unrestricted free agents after the upcoming new season ends. Skjei has a $5.25 million cap hit, while Pesce has a more affordable salary of $4.025 million. Jones can play either on the left or right side of the blue line, so they have some flexibility. Skjei has had 27 goals, and 50 assists over the past two seasons. Pesce has had 12 goals, and 46 assists over his last two campaigns in Carolina.

The logical move may be to move one of Skjei or Pesce and add Patrick Kane once he heals from his surgery. That may not be until December, but that would be an excellent time for the Canes to add the offensive prowess that Kane possesses. Just in time to give them the push they need to dominant in the playoffs. It may be a deft move by GM Don Waddell to put Kane in a Canes’ uniform. We shall see.

Minnesota Wild – Noah Hanifin

Rumor: Per James Wilson – nhltraderumors.me. Surprising new team enters Noah Hanifin sweepstakes.

One trade scenario would see the Flames sending Hanifin to the Wild in exchange for a package that includes a high draft pick or two, and a prospect. One such prospect who is still a restricted free agent is young Calen Addison. He tallied three goals, 26 assists last season and is still unsigned. The Wild have certainly mismanaged their cap space and are paying for it dearly. They will fork out $7.37 million each to Zach Parise and Ryan Suter in dead cap hits. They will limit what they can do, but adding Hanifin to their blueline would certainly allow them to move forward.

Random Flames Goal Of The Day

November 25th, 2018. Noah Hanifin scores his first goal as a Flame against the Coyotes.

I was sitting about 6 rows behind the Arizona net when this happened. The Flames ended up destroying the Coyotes 6-1. pic.twitter.com/Ts2CVLa6aV

— Robert Munnich (@RingOfFireCGY) December 19, 2022

Hanifin, who is 26 years old, is a top-four defenseman who would help the Wild blueline, although they did pretty well last season, finishing sixth with a 2.67 goals-against-average. It seems that other teams have shown interest in the talented blueliner. The Buffalo Sabres and Florida Panthers may also be in the running to acquire his services. One thing that has been known is that Hanifin seems to be done playing for the Calgary Flames and wants out.

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