Welcome to another edition of Full Press Hockey’s NHL Rumors! Teams are always looking to improve, and the excitement of another NHL season is upon us. With the March 8th trade deadline approaching, the rumors are hot and heavy!
In this Sunday edition of NHL Rumors, we’ll examine the New York Rangers, New Jersey Devils, and the Ottawa Senators.
NHL rumors in this edition include:
Will the Rangers and Calgary Flames pull off a huge trade? Are the Devils focusing on obtaining Noah Hanifin? Will a pair of players in Ottawa be on the move before the trade deadline?
New York Rangers – Chris Tanev
Rumor: Per – Rob Ellis – nhltraderumor.com. Will the Rangers pull off a huge trade to acquire Chris Tanev?
The proposed deal would be forward Kaapo Kakko ($2.1M), defenseman Braden Schneider ($925,000), and a 2024 second-round pick to Calgary for defenseman Chris Tanev, with 50% of his $4,500,000 AAV retained, and forward Adam Ruzicka ($762,500). The details of this trade scenario show that all players involved are on expiring contracts. To have the Flames retain 50 percent of Tanev’s contract makes the salaries almost identical.
Kakko has been involved in trade speculation for some time now, and a change in scenery may be the best thing to progress his development. Adding in Schneider is almost a necessity to make the deal work for the Flames. Losing Tanev and replacing him with a much younger player in Schneider (22) helps the Flames going forward. With Tanev bolstering the Rangers’ blueline and Ruzicka filling in on the forward line, the trade seems equal for both teams and addresses needs.
The key here for the Rangers is obtaining a top defenseman who can lead them into the postseason and help them possibly get a Cup. Tanev will land somewhere and help any team he is dealt to. This proposed trade would enrich the Rangers’ chances of being a Stanley Cup threat.
New Jersey Devils – Noah Hanifin
Rumor: Per – Colton Pankiw – dailyhive.com. Hanifin in trade talks with Flames and Eastern Conference team: report
According to David Pagnotta of thefourthperiod.com, “As we’ve reported this week, the Calgary Flames have been engaged in trade talks involving some of their players, including – and more specifically – their defencemen. Noah Hanifin, ranked No.2 on the TFP Trade Watch List, has been on a few teams’ radars, including the New Jersey Devils. Trade talks seem to be ongoing, and this could be something that materializes leading up to the deadline, if not much sooner.”
Undoubtedly, the Devils are missing Dougie Hamilton on the blue line and have his LTIR money ($9M) to spend. Hanifin would be an excellent replacement and carries a $4.95 million cap hit. With Hamilton’s absence, the Devils also lost Damon Severson and Ryan Graves via free agency, both of whom were key contributors to the team’s success a season ago.
The Flames would more than likely want a young prospect or draft picks. The Devils have their first-round selections for the next two years to dangle towards the proposed trade. Trading Hanifin for a draft pick and other futures would all be done with an eye on hoping that after five or six years of developing prospects, the Flames would land … another dependable Hanifin-type player.
With his trade rumors flying, how is Hanifin handling it? “That’s not really any decision for me — in terms of direction of what the team’s gonna do, that’s more up to management.”
Hanifin has appeared in 636 NHL games and will turn 27 this month. He has accumulated 55 goals and 202 assists and averaged just over 20 minutes of ice time over his nine-year career. The Devils could really use him, so now we wait to see if a deal goes down.
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Ottawa Senators – Time to sell?
Rumor: Per – Adam Proteau – thehockeynews.com. Looks like Vladimir Tarasenko and Dominik Kubalik could be dealt.
The Sens are a woeful 14-20, which ranks them 29th in the standings, and not much of a shot at the postseason. Time to sell. And that means players like Tarasenko and Kubalik may be heading out of Ottawa. Tarasenko is on a one-year $5 million deal, and while his scoring isn’t horrible, with eight goals and 24 points in 32 games, he is the Ottawa club’s best asset at the trade deadline. Adding young players and draft picks would do nicely for new GM Steve Staios.
Kublik has a $2.5 million contract and has collected eight goals and 11 points in 34 games.
Friedman at the intermission says Sens are very aggressive in the market right now, not looking to deal young players, they are looking for “pros”, players who know how to play properly, players who take care of themselves.
— NHL Watcher (@NHL_Watcher) January 7, 2024
Hiring the best coach will also be necessary for the Senators to make any real progress after this season. Jacques Martin is only a stop-gap measure for the rest of this season. Whoever they hire as their full-time bench boss will have to keep Daniel Alfredsson on the coaching staff. The Sens have lots of work to do. They possess tons of talent but haven’t been able to put it all together. Elliotte Friedman on 32 Thoughts (at the 26:00 mark) commented that perhaps some of the young players in Ottawa are “too comfortable.” That kind of comment most certainly will ignite more NHL rumors, so stay right here at Full Press Hockey to learn the latest.
That concludes this edition of NHL rumors. Be sure to catch our next article, and thanks for reading!
Ottawa is 5 games back. Not saying they have a chance but technically they do
sounds like they need a shakeup in management