Tag Archives: Chicago Blackhawks

Armchair GM, Beer League Hero, Edmonton Oilers, NHL, Rumors

(12/30/2020) – BLH’s NHL Rumor Roundup: “We’re Predicting Dubas Goes Hard After…”

BLH provides you with the latest NHL news, rumors, and speculation featuring Dylan Strome, Sami Vatanen, Vince Dunn, Zach Hyman, Frederik Andersen, and more!

The Fourth Period is reporting that the Oilers are in on FIVE players! Read about it here!

Could Ryan Nugent-Hopkins be leaving Edmonton and might his replacement be Dylan Holloway? Read about that here!

Read about BLH’s FIVE underrated players to watch at this year’s World Juniors here!

Are the Oilers going to make a trade sooner or later? Read about that conundrum here!

Who Might Newly-Signed Slater Koekkoek replace in the Oilers Lineup? Read about it now!

Click the pic and find the NHL94 player from your team!

NHL Rumors and Speculation

  • Jordan Hall (NBC): Mikhail Vorobyev’s agent Dan Milstein confirms his client has torn his ACL and is out long-term. Vorobyev is an RFA who’d signed a 3yr deal with Salavat in the KHL.
  • Joe Smith (The Athletic): On Sami Vatanen,
    • “There have been several teams interested in Vatanen, but I was told Tampa isn’t one of them. I still think they could look to add depth on defence.”
  • Scott Powers (The Athletic): On Dylan Strome,
    • “I’d expect Dylan Strome to get a deal done between now and training camp. It sounds like the two sides have been talking more.”
  • Andy Strickland (The Athletic): On Mike Hoffman,
    • “Look for Mike Hoffman’s one-year deal with the St. Louis Blues to come in at $4M. One could argue he would’ve been a $6.5M player if there was no pandemic.”
  • Ken Wiebe (Sportsnet): Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff expects there will be a couple of players on PTOs that’ll be announced in the days leading up to training camp.
  • Jim Thomas (St. Louis Post-Dispatch): On Vince Dunn,
    • “I was told today by Vince Dunn’s agent that he’ll be in training camp. I read it as a good sign, the only way he can be on the ice is if he’s under contract.”
  • Adam Vingan (The Athletic): Regarding fans in the stands in Nashville this season,
    • “The Nashville Public Health Department has approved a maximum 15% seating capacity for the Predators’ January home games. The team is expected to start smaller and work up to that.”
  • David Pagnotta (The Fourth Period): Justin Abdelkader and Trevor Lewis have interest from other teams. Talks could pick up this week. The Boston Bruins are among many teams interested in defenceman Ben Hutton.
  • James O’Brien (NBC): Believes that the Chicago Blackhawks’ best course of action this year should be to tank and get the highest draft pick possible in the 2021 NHL draft.
    • “This team needs to tank, and it also would benefit from stockpiling draft picks. Selling high on veterans at the trade deadline, seeing some positive steps from young players, and landing a blue-chipper or three in the 2021 NHL Draft stands as the best-case scenario for the Blackhawks in 2020-21 and into the offseason.”
  • Luke Fox (Sportsnet): Predicts that Zach Hyman will stay with the Toronto Maple Leafs and Frederik Andersen will be moved and in that scenario, Fox says GM Kyle Dubas will likely target Arizona keeper Darcy Kuemper.
    • “Well, if Jack Campbell doesn’t emerge as an NHL starter, we’re predicting Dubas goes hard after Arizona’s Darcy Kuemper (UFA 2022) via trade.”

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Armchair GM, Beer League Hero, Edmonton Oilers, NHL, Rumors

(12/20/2020) – BLH’s NHL Rumor Roundup PM Extra Edition: “He Would Look Fantastic in a Blues Uniform”

BLH provides you with the latest NHL news, rumors, and speculation featuring Vladimir Tarasenko, Anthony Duclair, Mike Hoffman, Travis Hamonic, and more!

Watch 16yr Old Wayne Gretzky Destroy the Czechs at the ’78 World Juniors!

Watch Connor McDavid help Team Canada end a five-year WJHC gold medal drought right here!

Evan Bouchard has been recalled from his loan in Sweden, now he’s got to make the Oilers or his future could be cloudy. Read about that here.

Read what TSN’s Craig Button had to say about Carter Savoie, Dylan Holloway, and the 2020 World Juniors right here!

At the 2010 World Juniors, Jordan Eberle was a hero but it was all for naught in the Gold Medal Final… Watch the epic 6-5 battle with Team USA in its entirety right here.

Click the pic and find the NHL94 player from your team!

NHL Rumors and Speculation

  • SN590 Radio: Elliotte Friedman on talks with Canadian Provincial governments: BC, Ontario, and Quebec had issues with the NHL proposal – “Now British Columbia looks like the main province that is still the holdout.”

BLH’s Thoughts: I’m not as up to date with things back home in Canada as I’d like to be when it comes to COVID, so this question might come off as a bit ignorant, but can anybody tell me why the health authorities in British Columbia are okay with allowing uncontrolled individuals come into Vancouver from all corners of the globe on an hourly basis, but hockey teams who will be under strict rules and regulations so as not to become infected are a massive risk to the population?

  • Bruce Garrioch (Ottawa Sun): Sens GM Pierre Dorion: “Once we have all the details (on the season start) we’ll be ready to go. The team we have right now is the team we’ll see at camp.”

BLH’s Thoughts: I’m weird, I like shitty hockey teams, and so I’m very intrigued with how the Senators are going to do this season. Can a spine that includes Thomas Chabot, Matt Murray, and Brady Tkachuk have a little bit of success?

  • David Pagnotta (The Fourth Period): “With the NHL season now set to start on January 13th, I’m hearing the regular season will end in early-May and the Stanley Cup Playoffs will wrap up in mid-July.”
  • Rick Westhead (TSN): Southern Ontario Likely to be in lockdown until at least mid-January. The OHL hopes to start on Feb.1st, but several agents are advising players there is a possibility the season will be canceled.
  • Chris Johnston (Sportsnet): There’s increased urgency to have discussions with the NHL’s remaining UFAs now. Mike Hoffman, Mikael Granlund, Sami Vatanen, and Travis Hamonic are among those that are still available.

BLH’s Thoughts: If you were a betting person, would you bet on the amount of those named above getting pro-tryout offers over or under three?

  • Marc Brassard: Anthony Duclair says Ottawa only offered him a 1yr deal which he rejected, not a 3yr contract at $4.25M. Says those rumors are comical.

BLH’s Thoughts: I heard this rumor on Oilers Now with Bob Stauffer on Friday. It seemed a bit far-fetched when I heard it and I guess it was according to Duclair. I mean, who would turn down three years at over $4M?… 

  • Pierre LeBrun (The Athletic): NHL has scheduled a Board of Governors call for noon ET on Sunday. They have also scheduled a General Managers call at 2pm ET on Sunday.
  • Scott Powers (The Athletic): President of Hockey Ops and GM of the Chicago Blackhawks Stan Bowman said he wants to see out his vision and could possibly look into hiring a GM underneath him in the future.

BLH’s Thoughts: I feel like it’s time for the Blackhawks to get some more fresh blood in there. Maybe it’s come to the point where a new vision is required going forward… 

  • Jeremy Rutherford (The Athletic): St. Louis Blues GM Doug Armstrong says the team will have the ability to add player(s) once Alex Steen has officially been put on LTIR. Vladimir Tarasenko is on track for re-evaluation in February.

BLH’s Thoughts: Mike Hoffman would look fantastic in a Blues uniform… 

https://twitter.com/FriedgeHNIC/status/1340683475129667584

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My hometown’s university hockey team needs help due to cutbacks and obviously financial pressures thanks to the pandemic, so they’ve set up a Go Fund Me to try and raise enough money to keep their program alive.

I can’t even begin to imagine how many hours I spent as a boy running around the Max McLean Arena in Camrose at Vikings games. It has to be in the hundreds as my dad took me to as many as we could get to and add in all the Viking Cup games. Without this hockey program, many people wouldn’t have been able to be introduced to the likes of Henrik Lundqvist, Dominik Hasek, Mike Comrie, Olli Jokinen, Mikko Koivu, PJ Axelsson, Dave Tippett, Fernando Pisani, Petr Klima, Sergei Zubov, Ziggy Palffy, Milan Hejduk, Andrei Markov, Henrik Zetterberg, Tuuka Rask, etc. before they became NHL superstars and that’s thanks to the Vikings and the fine people over the years that have worked tirelessly to keep things afloat.

If you have time, visit the Go Fund Me, and if you have an extra buck or two, help out. I know it’s not easy these days, but Camrose without the Vikings would leave a massive hole in the fabric of that town.

Armchair GM, Beer League Hero, Edmonton Oilers, NHL, Prospects, Rumors

(12/18/2020) – BLH’s NHL Rumor Roundup PM EXTRA Edition: “He Could Be Worth More To Another Team Than Edmonton.”

BLH provides you with the latest NHL news, rumors, and speculation featuring Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Vince Dunn, Erik Haula, Connor McDavid, Corey Perry, and more!

Watch 16yr Old Wayne Gretzky Destroy the Czechs at the ’78 World Juniors!

Watch Connor McDavid help Team Canada end a five-year WJHC gold medal drought right here!

Evan Bouchard has been recalled from his loan in Sweden, now he’s got to make the Oilers or his future could be cloudy. Read about that here.

Read what TSN’s Craig Button had to say about Carter Savoie, Dylan Holloway, and the 2020 World Juniors right here!

At the 2010 World Juniors, Jordan Eberle was a hero but it was all for naught in the Gold Medal Final… Watch the epic 6-5 battle with Team USA in its entirety right here.

Click the pic and find the NHL94 player from your team!

Before we get to the links, I’d like to direct you to the tweet below. My hometown’s university hockey team needs help due to cutbacks and obviously financial pressures thanks to the pandemic, so they’ve set up a Go Fund Me to try and raise enough money to keep their program alive.

I can’t even begin to imagine how many hours I spent as a boy running around the Max McLean Arena in Camrose at Vikings games. It has to be in the hundreds as my dad took me to as many as we could get to and add in all the Viking Cup games. Without this hockey program, many people wouldn’t have been able to be introduced to the likes of Henrik Lundqvist, Dominik Hasek, Mike Comrie, Olli Jokinen, Mikko Koivu, PJ Axelsson, Dave Tippett, Fernando Pisani, Petr Klima, Sergei Zubov, Ziggy Palffy, Milan Hejduk, Andrei Markov, Henrik Zetterberg, Tuuka Rask, etc. before they became NHL superstars and that’s thanks to the Vikings and the fine people over the years that have worked tirelessly to keep things afloat.

If you have time, visit the Go Fund Me, and if you have an extra buck or two, help out. I know it’s not easy these days, but Camrose without the Vikings would leave a massive hole in the fabric of that town.

NHL Rumors and Speculation

  • Allan Mitchell (The Athletic): Is Ryan Nugent-Hopkins worth more outside of Edmonton and could that mean The Nuge finishes his career outside of the Albertan capital?
    • “Nuge could be worth more to another NHL team than Edmonton. A natural centre, the Oilers have him playing wing. He’s a ridiculous power-play quarterback but is playing a role as opposed to being the key link in the chain.”
  • Bet Online: Has Connor McDavid (+400), Nathan MacKinnon (+500), and Leon Draisaitl (+800) in their top-three to win the Hart Trophy in 2020-21.
  • Dave Poulin (TSN):  Sees Travis Hamonic winding up in Vancouver, filling one of the holes made by the loss of two right-handed defencemen, and he had a suggestion for Corey Perry.
    • “Go home,” said Poulin, referring to Toronto. “Join Jason Spezza and Joe Thornton and have some fun. They won’t need you until the playoffs anyway.”
  • Emily Sadler (Sportsnet): Despite seeing other professional sports franchises in Washington and Cleveland change their team names, the Chicago Blackhawks will be keeping theirs.
    • “Obviously, we respect the decision the Cleveland Indians made to go down that path, but we continue to deepen our commitment to upholding our namesake and our brand,” Wirtz told reporters Thursday morning. “The work we’ve been doing over the last several months and expanding and deepening conversations and partnerships within the Native community, we continue to feel really positive about the types of work we can do, the way in which we can be better stewards of the namesake and the history, and to use our platforms to be educators not only for our fans but for our internal teams and making sure that we provide that reverence and respect that we talk about that.”
  • Adam Gretz (NBC): With the news of Alex Steen’s retirement Thursday, the St. Louis Blues should have enough cap space to re-sign RFA d-man Vince Dunn and possibly add another forward. Gretz suggests one of Mikael Granlund or Erik Haula as a couple of possible candidates.
  • Bruce Garrioch (Ottawa Sun): Says there’s chatter within the league that the NHL is discussing the possibility of moving the 2021 entry draft to next December.
    • “Don’t rule out the possibility of draft being moved back because look at all the debate that went into moving it from June 24-25 to Oct. 6-7. Every option has to be on the table and it may have to be done virtually again because it’s doubtful prospects could leave their teams to fly to Montreal.”

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Armchair GM, Beer League Hero, Edmonton Oilers, NHL, Rumors

(12/1/2020) Could the Blues and Jets Get Together and Make a Trade? That and More NHL Rumors!

Coming from an Edmonton Oilers fan’s perspective, BLH comments on the latest NHL news, rumors, and speculation featuring a potential Jets/Blues trade, Patrick Kane’s trade value, Morgan Rielly’s next contract valuation, and more!

Five Oilers-related things that BLH is thankful for. You’ll love #5!

The Oilers could’ve had Teemu Selanne in ’88! Read how it broke down here. 

Which Alberta team is closest to the Stanley Cup? You’ll find out here!

Puljujarvi is pissed! Read all about it here.

Are the Oilers a bubble team in 2020-21? These two insiders seem to think so.

Click the pic and find the NHL94 player from your team!

NHL Rumors and Speculation

  • Jim Parsons (The Hockey Writers): Commenting on an article from The Athletic’s Jonas Seigal regarding whether the Toronto Maple Leafs will have room to retain upcoming free agents like goaltender Frederik Andersen, defenseman Morgan Rielly and forward Zach Hyman.
    • “The hope is that the Leafs can get him (Morgan Rielly) in long-term for around $7 million per season and then move on from one of the older defencemen to create cap space for a Rasmus Sandin.”

BLH’s Thoughts: James Mirtle also wondered in that article if it would be best for Rielly to take a short-term deal worth $9M/yr for four years or $7M for seven years?

If you’re Kyle Dubas, you want Rielly locked up as long as possible for $7M/yr or lower, right? If he gets up into the eights or nines, the Leafs will have so much money tied up in so few players that it’s bound to handcuff them even more sooner than later.

My question would be, if Rasmus Sandin is that good, maybe the best bet would be to put the money down on him and then eventually look to move on from Rielly. 

Random trade proposal: West Vancouver’s Morgan Rielly for Hamilton’s Darnell Nurse. 

  • Scott Powers (The Athletic): A source of Powers’ had this to say on the topic of Patrick Kane’s trade value,
    • “You can get a first-rounder and an ‘A’ prospect. You might be able to get a first and a couple of second-rounders. He’d demand the most out of the core.”

BLH’s Thoughts: So for the sake of conversation, the New Jersey Devils have $17M is cap space right now. Would their 2021 first rounder and Jack Hughes be enough? If Patrick Kane would agree to leave Chicago and the price was only a first round pick and a couple of seconds, there would be a line 30 GMs deep waiting for a shot at him. 

My feeling is that his price tag is a little higher than that.

Almost random trade proposal: Kane to Buffalo for Jeff Skinner, a 1st-round pick, and JJ Paterka. 

It’s widely thought that the St. Louis Blues will most likely sign RFA defenceman Vince Dunn closer to the beginning of the season, however, there’s no guarantee that they don’t turn around and trade the young defenceman and there’s a team in the same division who’s has a forward who’d like a change of scenery and need a top-4 defender. That team is the Winnipeg Jets and the player is Jack Roslovic.

I don’t know if Dunn is going to move up a defensive depth chart that includes Justin Faulk, Torey Krug, Colton Parayko, Marco Scandella, and Carl Gunnarsson any time soon; so maybe it would be in his best interests to pursue a move away from his current organization,

Is it beyond the possibility that the Blues and Jets make a trade involving Dunn and Roslovic? St. Louis would get their momentary cap relief and Winnipeg would get their puck-moving blueliner.

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Armchair GM, Beer League Hero, Edmonton Oilers, NHL, Rumors

Nov.29th, 2020 – A Blockbuster Jets/Blackhawks Trade Rumor and More!

Coming from an Edmonton Oilers fan’s perspective, BLH comments on the latest NHL news, rumors, and speculation featuring Patrik Laine, Jonathan Toews, Brent Burns, and more!

These three players will be Edmonton’s breakout kids in 2020-21! Read it now!

BLH has made a starting lineup of the best Oilers to have played at the World Juniors! Check it out!

Five Oilers-related things that BLH is thankful for. You’ll love #5!

The Oilers could’ve had Teemu Selanne in ’88! Read how it broke down here. 

Which Alberta team is closest to the Stanley Cup? You’ll find out here!

Click the pic and find the NHL94 player from your team!

NHL Rumors and Speculation

  • Shug McSween (NHLTradeRumors.me): According to McSween, when word got out that the stars in Chicago were unhappy with the direction their team was going, the Winnipeg Jets called up and offered Patrik Laine in a deal for Jonathan Toews. He goes on to speculate on a possible transaction saying, “It would have to include something more than Laine to make it work. Something along the lines of a first-round pick and the last year of Mathieu Perreault’s deal.”

BLH’s Thoughts: This is an interesting bit of speculation being floated out there. I don’t doubt that Toews would be willing to return to his home to play out the remainder of his career, but my feeling is that he’d probably rather do it when the club is a bit better than it is right now. Akin to when Bryan Trottier went to win with the Pittsburgh Penguins after all of those seasons with the Islanders.

For me, I think that Chicago and Winnipeg are most likely best off keeping their stars and working with what they have right now. Besides, as good as Captain Serious is, the Jets stand to lose the most in a trade like this moving a young pure goal-scorer and a first-round pick for an aging super star. 

  • TSN Radio Vancouver: Thomas Drance of The Athletic believes that the Vancouver Canucks may be forced into considering short-term extensions for star youngsters Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes when their deals expire next off-season. He adds that how the New York Islanders handle their Mat Barzal may dictate the direction GM Jim Benning goes.

BLH’s Thoughts: Can you hear that? Off in the distance. You can barely here them. The low rumblings of offer-sheet rumors…

If Benning doesn’t get these two tied up before the off-season, you can bet your bottom dollar that the offer-sheet speculation will be rampant. I mean lnowing that Canucks ownership is notorious for hating to spend on its stars AND a pandemic happening at the same time… I hope you’ve got your popcorn ready. 

  • Kevin Kurz (The Athletic): Kurz thinks that San Jose’s most likely trade candidates are Devan Dubnyk, Marcus Sorensen, Patrick Marleau, Matt Nieto, and Stefan Noesen should the club be sellers at the trade deadline. Brent Burns was also brought up as the likeliest of their big-name defenders to be traded IF the Sharks could find a willing taker for the 36yr old and his massive $8M/yr deal that doesn’t expire for another five seasons.

BLH’s Thoughts: I would be shocked if anybody even stayed on the line with Doug Wilson should the name of Brent Burns be brought up in a conversation. As for the other players listed, Dubnyk might have some value if he playes well. Sorensen and Nieto won’t bring you any offense, but they’ll contribute to the muckier side of the game. Noesen has had a bit of an emergence in San Jose, I’m just sure if he’d get the club much in a trade. As for old man Marleau, a team like the Edmonton Oilers might look at him for playoff depth and locker room guidance given all the post-season experience he has. 

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