Today’s NHL news, rumors, and speculation feature the likes of David Pastrnak, Vincent Trocheck, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Kyle Turris, Jesper Fast, and much more!

The News and Rumors

• According to Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy, star winger David Pastrnak had a lower-body injury throughout the entire playoffs. Both he and deadline acquisition Ondrej Kase struggled with conditioning as it wasn’t where it needed to be.
• Elliotte Friedman has been told that Oliver Ekman-Larsson is “stale” and with a change of scenery could make a substantial difference with a new club. Jeff Marek said that Boston had interest in OEL previously.

BLH’s Thoughts: Man, Montreal could really make the Coyotes a good offer for OEL with all those picks and prospects they’ve got. Could you imagine a true trident of Ekman-Larsson, Weber, and Petry? Very nice!

• It seems that much-maligned defenseman Jack Johnson’s place on the Pittsburgh Penguins is safe for the time being. Elliotte Friedman said that Pens GM Jim Rutherford believes in Johnson. “I don’t think he’s going anywhere.” said the insider.
• The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun says that his sources are telling him that if the Carolina Hurricanes want to trade for Winnipeg Jets winger Patrik Laine, the starting package would need to include forward Vincent Trocheck, defenseman Brett Pesce, plus more.

BLH’s Thoughts: If that’s the package that the Hurricanes are going to have to give up for Laine, I can’t see how the Oilers could match that without sending a player like Ryan Nugent-Hopkins or Kailer Yamamoto along with one of Edmonton’s top-4 defenders to Winnipeg.

• LeBrun also commented that talks between the St. Louis Blues and captain Alex Pietrangelo have picked up slightly. In addition to that, Dougie Hamilton, who is one year away from unrestricted free agency, is watching those negotiations closely. There are some who think that Hamilton will be looking for something similar to what Pietrangelo gets.
• More from LeBrun, Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford said he won’t close the door on a trade involving forward Evgeni Malkin.
• Dan Kingerski believes that the potential returns in a trade with the Calgary Flames for goalie Matt Murray could be Dillon Dube, Sam Bennett, or Oliver Kylington.

BLH’s Thoughts: Oh man. If the Pens could get even one of those players in a deal for Murray, they might walk away with the ‘W’ in that trade. I’d hate to play Pittsburgh in the playoffs if they had Crosby and Bennett. Kylington is a hidden gem in my opinion. He’s a wonderful hockey player who just needs a chance to spread his wings. 

• TSN’s Darren Dreger believes Penguins GM Jim Rutherford has an offer on the table that he would consider for Murray, but he doesn’t believe it’s from the Leafs.
• There’s some Twitter speculation that circulating about an Adam Larsson for Frederik Andersen trade brewing…
• The Forever Blueshirts blog says the Rangers haven’t had any meaningful talks with Jesper Fast. It’s expected he’ll go to market and the Predators could be a team with interest.

BLH’s Thoughts: Keep the Oilers in mind when projecting where Fast may go. They were really watching him a couple of seasons ago. He’d be an affordable bottom-6 forward option for Edmonton.

The Oilers Speculation

I asked a source of mine about the potential of the James Neal/Kyle Turris trade that was discussed by Jonathan Willis in The Athletic recently. I wasn’t told that it wasn’t a possibility but what was said to me was that it was that person’s belief that Turris is going to be bought out.

This lead me to think that since I wasn’t told yes or no that the Oilers could be really interested in signing this player as the club really needs an effective right-shot center who is better than 50% on the dot like Turris is.

What do you think about this scenario? Kevin Lowe was a massive fan of Turris way back at the 2007 draft. Maybe Oilers GM Ken Holland could bring him in…