(1/14/2021) – BLH’s NHL Rumor Quick Hits: “The Oilers have made it clear they have no plans to…”

BLH provides you with the latest NHL news, rumors, and speculation featuring Jonathan Quick, Keith Yandle, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Pierre-Luc Dubois, Jack Studnicka, and more!

Have you read this hilarious Joe Thornton story about the time he was chirping Connor McDavid from the bench and he made everyone within earshot burst out laughing? Do it now!

Have you ever seen the video of the time Doug Risebrough sucker-punched Marty McSorley and then had his ass handed to him? You have to check it out here.

Did Connor McDavid have a hand in bringing Jesse Puljujarvi back to Edmonton? Read about it here.

The Oilers have a bit of a mind-bender brewing on the right side of their defence and a couple of big contracts set to expire there with some high-end prospects almost ready to take over. What is Ken Holland set to do?

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NHL Rumors and Speculation

Joe Haggerty (Boston Hockey Now): Says if the Boston Bruins want to get in on Pierre-Luc Dubois, they might have to part with some of their best prospects and even then, that might ont be enough,
- “(Jack) Studnicka and Urho Vaakanainen are their highest-valued assets close to the NHL, and former first round pick and current University of Michigan center Johnny Beecher is years away from contributing in an impactful way. For a team like Columbus and their most prized young player, they are going to be asking for a whole lot more than that for the impactful, young Dubois.”

BLH’s Thoughts: From those that I’ve talked to in the business, the feeling is that the Blue Jackets will look to make a similar deal to the one they made to get Seth Jones that had them send no.1 center (at the time) Ryan Johansen to Nashville.

Now, I don’t know if they’ll honor Dubois’ wish to be traded to a bigger market. Former AGM Bill Zito is in Florida now and they’ve got some real decisions to make with regards to Sasha Barkov, Aaron Ekblad, and Jonathan Huberdeau. I wonder if they might be an option?

Aaron Portzline (The Athletic): Is reporting that 33yr old Columbus Blue Jackets captain Nick Foligno would like to re-sign with the club but will have to take a cut in pay to do so,
- “The sense is that Foligno may take a bit of a hometown discount to stay with the Blue Jackets. But, like any player, he won’t accept an offer that’s deemed too far below market value.”

BLH’s Thoughts: Man, what I wouldn’t give to have a guy like Foligno on the Oilers, especially after what we witnessed last night versus Vancouver. This club still doesn’t have that grizzled veteran leader who will put his balls on the line but can still play the game and I feel like they desperately need one. Be that Foligno or a guy like Dustin Brown (LA), for example.

Frank Seravalli (TSN): Is of the belief that the Edmonton Oilers won’t be offering more than $7M to long-time Edmonton Oiler Ryan Nugent-Hopkins on a new deal this off-season and he predicts GM Ken Holland will go out and land a goaltender this season,
- “The Oilers have made it clear they have no plans to go north of $7 million per year on a long-term extension.”
- “We believe GM Ken Holland sniffed around for one last deadline – and didn’t land his man in free agency, opting to bring back Mike Smith with Mikko Koskinen. There will be options available as teams jockey for Expansion Draft positioning.”

BLH’s Thoughts: Nice, atta go way out on a limb, Frank. It’s not like these two things haven’t been out on the grapevine for months… I thought these were supposed to be BOLD predictions…

Matt Larking (SI.com/The Hockey News): Larkin suggests the Boston Bruins as a potential fit for Florida Panthers d-man, Keith Yandle. The New York Islanders could be another but they lack sufficient cap space to find room for Yandle.

BLH’s Thoughts: Is Yandle done? He makes way too much money for what he brings to the ice these days. Even at half of his salary, that’s still a big ticket today.

Scott Burnside (The Athletic): Says that he thinks the LA Kings will move Jonathan Quick this year,
- “The 34-year-old doesn’t possess trade protection so he can be moved at the Kings’ desire. And while he carries a $5.8 million cap hit through 2022-23, the Kings would presumably eat some of that thus making Quick an acceptable risk for an interested team like St. Louis, Colorado, Washington, Dallas or Carolina.”