Outsider Scoops: NHL Trade Rumors
Elliott Friedman, Pierre Lebrun, Kevin Weekes. These men who break NHL news are known as insiders of the NHL. They have connections with sources like players, agents, and people within team organizations. They’re not the only ones with sources, however, I got some sources too. These are people like Mr. First Time Long Time who spends too much time calling into local sports radio, or that drunk guy at the bar whose compliments to the bartender border on being creepy, or that guy at work who knows all the wild insider news without any answer for where he heard it. My connections have their ears to the ground for the big scoops and here’s what my reliable outsider sources are telling me about the top NHL names on the trade block this offseason.
William Nylander, RW/C (TOR)
The Toronto Maple Leafs are entering a pivotal year. Not just because they will once again be under the pressure of high expectations from their city, but because their two star forwards are entering the final year of their contracts. One is franchise center, Auston Matthews, and the other is Matthew’s fellow 40-goal scorer last season, William Nylander.
As expected, the word is that a Matthews extension is already in the works, and while the door isn’t closed on Nylander, the Leafs have engaged in trade talks for the 27-year-old. Depending on Nylander’s asking price, Toronto could feel they can’t afford to re-sign both men, and Matthews understandably is the priority.
Willie does have some say in where he ends up in the event he is moved. The final year of his contract does contain a modified no-move meaning Nylander would provide the team with a list of ten teams he’d be willing to get dealt to. The New York Islanders have been reported to be one of the teams interested after they missed out on Alex DeBrincat.
You’d imagine Toronto will have a high asking price, so any team willing to meet that asking price would want to be confident they’ll get an extension done. The important thing to keep in mind though is that Toronto is in a Cup window. That means, unless an offer comes along they can’t say no to, there is a strong chance they keep Nylander in town for this season. A Nylander trade very well could end up a season-long drama where a trade doesn’t happen until next offseason prior to the beginning of free agency. The good news for Leaf’s fans is that they have their brand new GM, Brad Treliving, handling this situation. Treliving spent the last 8 seasons as GM of the Calgary Flames, and it’s not like he ever botched trading away an expiring star player while he was there.
Outsiders scoop: My sources tell me trade talks have slowed down as Toronto takes their time to find the best way to fumble the bag on a return.
Noah Hanifin, D and Elias Lindholm, C (CGY)
What is in the water in Calgary? Much like star players of the past, Hanifin and Lindholm are both entering the final year of their contracts and allegedly both players won’t commit to staying. That means the Flames are looking at trading away one-half of their top defensive pair and their top-line center. It won’t be hard to find teams interested as both Hanifin (26) and Lindholm (28) are still in their prime. They also each have very reasonable and under-market value cap hits. Linholm is scheduled to make $4.8 million next season and Hanifin only $4.9
Noah Hanifin is the best all-around defender on the trade block currently. He has a good two-way game and is a strong penalty killer, evident by the fact he led the flames in TOI when down a man. So far the Buffalo Sabres, Florida Panthers, and Pittsburgh Penguins have been linked to the 26-year-old. The Panthers especially could use another top-tier defender after Radko Gudas left in free agency, plus they most likely will be without Brandon Montour and Aaron Ekblad to start the season.
Elias Lindholm did decline last season after posting career highs in goals and points the season prior. Though in his defense, who didn’t underperform on the Flames last season? He also went from being flanked by Matty Tkachuk and Johnny Hockey to Dillon Dube. If the 64 points Linholm posted last season is a more accurate picture of him then it is fair to say he might better slot in as a second-line center, especially on a team with a bonafide 1C. Adding to his value, he’s a very strong two-way center finishing 10th in Selke voting.
Recently, all the talk has been about Boston acquiring Lindholm. The Bruins trading for the Swedish center makes a lot of sense after the event that took place this past week. Patrice Bergeron, who spent all of his 19 NHL seasons in Boston and wore the “C” for the past three, recently announced his retirement. Now it sounds like his 16-year teammate, David Krejci, will do the same. This leaves Pavel Zacha and Charlie Coyle as their projected top six centers. The silver lining to Bergeron’s retirement is the Bruins no longer have to factor in potentially resigning him, so they can now begin to work out how they can spend their $5.4 million in cap space. With so many players gone from the previous season’s team, Lindholm would be a good player to use the cap on.
Outsider Scoop: Sources are telling me Craig Conroy has indeed reached out to Brad Treliving for advice on how not to handle this kind of situation.
Connor Hellebuyck, G and Mark Scheifele, C (WPG)
Kevin Chevlydayoff is entering his 12th season as the GM of the Winnipeg Jets and he stands at a crossroads. Following the end of last season, many felt the Jets were a team on the decline. If that’s indeed the case, two players they could trade away for sizable returns are star goaltender Connor Hellybuck and top center Mark Scheifele.
Hellybuck was once again playing at a Vezina level last season. If votes were cast after the playoffs he very well could’ve been. The 30-year-old tender posted a 2.49 GAA, with a .920 SV%, and finished the year saving almost 31 goals above expected. It was a level of play Winnipeg needed, as they were in the bottom half of the league offensively. The asking price of a goaltender at his level, who also has consistently maintained that level throughout his career, will be steep. The other wrinkle is that the American-born goalie is entering the final year of his contract. For any team willing to give up what Winnipeg will seemingly want, they will have to be confident they’ll get an extension done. Depending on the team, Hellebuyck’s asking price could be an issue. At 30, he most likely will be looking to sign the last big contract of his career. While Illya Sorokin is three years younger, he just signed an extension that will see him making $8.25 million. I imagine Hellebuycks agents will be pointing at that extension as an example when they come to the table.
Scheifele is in a similar situation as he enters the final year of his 8-year deal he signed back when he was 23. The extra leverage he has comes in the form of his modified 10-team no-move clause. Turning 30 this past March Scheifele showed no signs of decline as he led his team and posted a career-best 42 goals this season. If you score 40-plus goals, you expect to get paid accordingly. He currently has an AAV of $6.125. If puts the puck in the net like he did last season I expect he’ll be able to get closer to his market value of $7.4. Scheifele is another name I expect we’ll hear a lot of buzz connecting him to the Boston Bruins.
Last season for the Jets started hot but they would struggle in the second half of the season and make the playoffs as the second wild card by only two points over the Calgary Flames. When the offseason started the talk around both players, especially Hellebuyck was heavy. As the summer has gone on the talks have grown much quieter. A lot of reports now say the Winnipeg Jets aren’t ready to rebuild and want to run back. They have some good players and even turned Pierre Luc-Dubois’s trade demand into Alex Iafollo and a young, top-six forward, in Gabe Vilardi. Are those editions enough to change what has felt like a declining team over the past few seasons?
Following their 2018 run to the Western Conference Finals, They were knocked out in the first round by the St. Louis Blues in the 2019 playoffs. The following season they got knocked out in the qualifying round of the expanded bubble playoff during the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2021, when the NHL did custom-modified divisions and playoff conferences to help prevent the spread of Covid, they made the second round but were then swept by the eventual Cup Runner-Up Canadiens. The Manitoba-based franchise failed to make the playoffs in 2022, and most recently, caught a gentelman’s swept in the first round in this postseason by the Vegas Golden Knights. I can, however, see what Cheveldayoff and companies’ thought processes might be. Of their last four trips to the playoffs, two were during weird covid seasons and the other two saw them get beat by the eventual cup champs.
Outsider scoop: The tantalizing allure of another first round playoff exit is too much to resist and Winnipeg refuses to rebuild. Midway thru next season a big Hellebuyck extension is confusingly announced that the Jets will end up trying to trade away in the offseason. Scheifele meanwhile leaves next offseason.
Erik Karlsson, D (SJS) TRADED
Finally we get to the crown jewel on the trade ma – HOLD ON! CUT! Here’s the deal, people. I finished writing this article a week ago. We waited to post because we we’re focused on getting out Pro Wrestling related content last week in time for SummerSlam. Originally I had written four very insightful, clever and Pulitzer level paragraphs on Erik Karlsson. Unfortunately, this past Sunday, the Sharks, the Penguins, and the Canadiens all had to conspire against me and get a deal done.While I did have to cut everything I previously wrote, I will include what my sources were telling me last week just to prove how legit they are.
Outsiders scoop: A hero will soon emerge in the form of a bad team with cap space to spare and the Penguins overpay to get Karlsson. Karlsson’s play drops off but Kyle Dubas doesn’t care. He only made the deal as a middle finger to Toronto.
If you wanna hear Adam and Myself give our instant reactions to the Karlsson trade, make sure to listen to the last Talent Alone Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on this very website.
