Tag Archives: Tampa Bay Lightning

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

(1/7/2021) – BLH’s NHL Rumor Roundup: “No One Seems To Know Why He Doesn’t Want To Be There…”

BLH provides you with the latest NHL news, rumors, and speculation featuring Alexander Ovechkin, Tuukka Rask, Nick Robertson, Connor Hellebuyck, and more!

Oilers pundit says the club might be down ANOTHER forward before camp starts! Who could it be?

Are the Oilers tough enough for the 2020-21 NHL season? A former NHL GM says NO!

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.

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

NHL Rumors and Speculation

  • Jim Matheson (Edmonton Sun): Says Dominik Kahun and Devin Shore took physicals and fitness testing Tuesday and could be back on the ice soon.
  • Sara Olesky (TSN): Winnipeg Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck is aiming to play between 40-45 games this season.
  • Jim Parsons (NHL Trade Talk): On Tuukka Rask future with the Boston Bruins,
    • “If the Bruins don’t see him sticking after this season and Rask doesn’t see himself playing anywhere else, that could be it for him in the NHL.”
  • Tom Gulitti of NHL.com: writes that Alexander Ovechkin discussed his pending negotiations with the Washington Capitals and said,
    • “I think we understand everything that’s happening right now, so whenever it’s done, it’s done.” He added, “If it’s not done, we’re going to talk and we’ll see.”
  • Ken Campbell (SI.com) Writes that there is a real frustration in Columbus over the news that star centre Pierre-Luc Dubois wants out. No one seems to know why he doesn’t want to be there any longer and they’re not sure if it’s the coach, the market, or the GM?
  • Scott Wheeler (The Athletic): Gave us his post-2021 World Juniors All-Star Team as well as his All-Snub team,
    • All-Star Team
      • F – Dylan Cozens (CAN)
      • F – Trevor Zegras (USA)
      • F – Tim Stuetzle (GER)
      • D – Ville Heinola (FIN)
      • D – Bowen Byram (CAN)
      • G – Devon Levi (CAN)
    • All-Snub Team
      • F – Matt Boldy (USA)
      • F – Anton Lundell (FIN)
      • F – Connor McMichael (CAN)
      • D – Topi Niemela (FIN)
      • D – Cam York (USA)
      • G – Spencer Knight (USA)
  • Joe Smith (The Athletic): Expects next summer to be as painful as this past off-season for the Tampa Bay Lightning.
    • “The Lightning should be Cup contenders for the next several years, as long as their stars stay healthy. Next summer is going to be painful in terms of seeing more familiar faces depart.”
  • Ryan Dixon (Sportsnet): Has the Colorado Avalanche, Vegas Golden Knights, and Tampa Bay Lightning in his “top tier” of NHL clubs who have the best chance at winning the Stanley Cup this season.
    • Re: Edmonton Oilers – “The Oilers are doing a nice job of filling things out around Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, but losing Oscar Klefbom for the season really stings and the goaltending is just too big of a question mark.”
  • Luke Fox (Sportsnet): Nick Robertson finds himself on the Toronto Maple Leafs’ non-NHL “B” squad at training camp and appears to be on track to open the season as a taxi-squad option.

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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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This is how Pavel used to tell you who was #1 back in the day! Click the pic and grab a shirt or a mask!
Armchair GM, Beer League Hero, Edmonton Oilers, NHL, Rumors

(12/24/2020) – BLH’s NHL Rumor Roundup PM Edition: “I’ll Be Stunned If He Doesn’t Sign With…”

BLH provides you with the latest NHL news, rumors, and speculation featuring Tyler Johnson, David Savard, James Van Riemsdyk, Max Pacioretty, and more!

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.

Oilers Insider Bob Stauffer dropped a massive hint regarding a new signing. Read about it here!

BLH has five pre-training camp questions regarding the Edmonton Oilers upcoming season. Read all about them here.

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

Is it time for the Edmonton Oilers to move on from one of their key defencemen? Maybe…

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

NHL Rumors and Speculation

  • Ryan S. Clark (The Athletic): According to Tampa Bay Lightning GM Julien Brisbois, there was interest in Tyler Johnson from up to three teams after the playoffs ended.
    • “When we came back to Tampa after the playoffs and I started calling teams back, two of them, it just didn’t work for them anymore,” BriseBois said. “Then, a third team still had interest but did not have sufficient cap space. We looked jointly at getting a third party to broker the deal and eat some of the cap space and move Tyler to that specific team. It was just so expensive that ended up being not feasible.”
  • James Mirtle (The Athletic): Believes that it might make sense if the Vegas Golden Knights swap Max Pacioretty and his $7M/yr contract for organizational depth.
  • Rory Boylen (Sportsnet): Has six bold predictions for the North Division this season,
    • Frederik Andersen will have a career year and re-sign in Toronto.
    • Calgary will finish first in the division.
    • Montreal will go the farthest in the playoffs.
    • Connor McDavid will hit 100pts.
    • It will be the highest scoring division.
    • The Senators will not finish last.
  • Shug McSween (NHLtraderumors.me): Believes a David Savard (CBJ) for James Van Riemsdyk (PHI) trade could be in the works.
    • “If David Savard is dealt to Philadelphia, look for the Blue Jackets to acquire James van Riemsdyk. The American born left-winger is very familiar with Blue Jackets head coach, John Tortorella, and his 40 points last season would be something that could help the Jackets.”
  • Ansar Khan (MLive.com): In an interview with Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman, was told that Detroit’s roster isn’t set yet.
    • “Definitely poking around,” he said. “I don’t want you to sit there and wait for us to make a move but you’re always looking at ways to get ahead or improve and we’ll continue to do that right up until the regular season starts. So, is the roster set? No.”
  • Matt Porter (Boston Globe): Reports that Bruins president Cam Neely has said the team is still looking at adding a defenseman through either free agency or the trade markets
    • “.We’d like to still explore (D) a little bit, even though we feel we have some guys that can step in … it’s a matter of the experience piece … but you can’t experience it until you play.”
  • Dan Rosen (NHL.com): On UFAs Mike Hoffman and Zdeno Chara,
    • “I’ll be stunned if Chara doesn’t eventually agree to a one-year contract with the Boston Bruins. The Blue Jackets, New Jersey Devils, Nashville Predators and Los Angeles Kings all have the salary cap space and all would benefit from signing Hoffman. They all need more offense, and Hoffman is averaging 0.90 goals per 60 minutes since 2014-15…”

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

(12/23/2020) – BLH’s NHL Rumor Roundup PM Edition: “On the Defence End, I’m Exploring Options”

BLH provides you with the latest NHL news, rumors, and speculation featuring Derek Stepan, Zdeno Chara, Mathieu Joseph, Noah Hanifin, and more!

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.

Oilers Insider Bob Stauffer dropped a massive hint regarding a new signing. Read about it here!

BLH has five pre-training camp questions regarding the Edmonton Oilers upcoming season. Read all about them here.

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

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

NHL Rumors and Speculation

  • Shawn Simpson (TSN): Broke this rumor via his Twitter account,
    • “Hearing Yotes and Sens are talking. Derek Stepan has one year left of a cap hit at 6.5, but an actual salary of 5.”

BLH’s Thoughts: If the Sens want to take advantage of this season and take a big step ahead in their rebuild, taking a chance on a player like Derek Stepan is not a bad idea at all. Given the club barely has a no.2 center in Colin White, Stepan would be a massive upgrade down the middle for them. 

  • Pierre McGuire (TSN): Doesn’t believe Zdeno Chara will retire and that he should sign with the Colorado Avalanche.

BLH’s Thoughts: Anybody else getting shades of the Ray Bourque trade from 20 years ago?… I guess the difference being, Bourque could still play back then. Not so sure the same can be said for Chara. 

  • Frank Seravalli (TSN): Says to keep an eye on Tampa Bay RFAs Mathieu Joseph and Alexander Volkov. They’ve yet to be re-signed and they’ll need to go through waivers if the Lightning plan to put them on their taxi squad. He figures there’s a good chance they’d be claimed if that happened.

BLH’s Thoughts: And just think, the Oilers could’ve had either if they were willing to trade Jesse Puljujarvi to Tampa. 

  • Pat Stein (Sportsnet): On “The Big Show”, Stein, Will Nault, and Peter Klein debated what trading Noah Hanifin would do for the Calgary Flames, and for the most part, the consensus was they’d like to see how the team starts before making that trade. What is Juuso Valimaki going to bring to the club and how is 37yr old captain Mark Giordano going to fare after a tough go in the bubble last summer.

BLH’s Thoughts: That is a very reasonable take I feel. Look, Noah Hanifin is basically the American Jay Bouwmeester at this point and look how that turned out for the Edmonton-native… As it stands, the Flames defence is its weakness, so why downgrade it even more?

  • David Pagnotta (The Fourth Period): LA Kings President Luc Robitaille said on a recent “Kings of the Podcast” episode that there are no roadblocks to acquisitions and if there’s an opportunity, they’d make the deal, but it has to make sense to them.
    • “If there’s a player in the right age bracket to fit in the direction we are going, we would look at it.”

BLH’s Thoughts: The Kings scare me a bit. They’ve got a shit ton of great prospects in their pipeline and just a ridiculous amount of cap space… If they wanted to make a statement trade, they could do it with ease and I hate that idea because at some point the divisions are going to go back to how they were prior to this season and that means Edmonton will be facing the Cali teams again… I’ve got too many dark memories of those clubs beating the Oilers and I’d prefer those don’t reinvent themselves. 

  • Oilers Now (630CHED): Ken Holland on his plans for the Edmonton Oiler’ roster as training camp approaches,
    • “Maybe we bring up a couple of players from Bakersfield who are on American League contracts to fill out, and I think certainly on the defence end I’m exploring options (of signing another player).”

BLH’s Thoughts: As we’ve talked about already, it sounds like the team is looking at UFAs Slater Koekkoek and Ben Hutton. Madison Bowey is also an option. My preference is Koekkoek, but your mileage may vary. 

  • Mark Spector (Sportsnet): Reckons that the Oilers’ initial taxi squad could consist of Alan Quine, Patrick Russell out of the forwards. Two of William Lagesson, Theodor Lennstrom, Evan Bouchard, and a signing like Slater Koekkoek or Ben Hutton for defencemen. And Anton Forsberg for the goalie.

BLH’s Thoughts: I’d be willing to bet that we see Kailer Yamamoto on the taxi squad during non-game days for financial reasons and it wouldn’t surprise me if some bigger name players like Jujhar Khaira or even James Neal were sent there as paper transactions. Oilers radio colorman Bob Stauffer thinks that Khaira would get claimed, but I’m not sure that’s a bad thing for Edmonton at this point. 

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

(12/22/2020) – BLH’s NHL Rumor Roundup PM Edition: “I’ve Heard Montreal is in on…”

BLH provides you with the latest NHL news, rumors, and speculation featuring Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Zdeno Chara, Slater Koekkoek, Mat Barzal, Andreas Athanasiou, and more!

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.

Oilers Insider Bob Stauffer dropped a massive hint regarding a new signing. Read about it here!

BLH has five pre-training camp questions regarding the Edmonton Oilers upcoming season. Read all about them here.

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

NHL Rumors and Speculation

  • Gene Principe (Sportsnet): Oilers GM Ken Holland: “Conversations have ended but hopefully we can find a solution to keep Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. The deal has to work for both sides.”

BLH’s Thoughts: Keep Nuge Forever? If he wants… 

Listen, no matter how much you love Nuge, you have to consider that he might want to move on. He’s newly wedded and he has an opportunity to cash in and choose where he wants to play out the rest of his career potentially. Given how good of a player he is, he’ll be one of the rare ones that gets a raise if he hits the open market.

Also, what if the team plans on bringing Taylor Hall back? Does RNH see the writing on the wall? 

So that brings us to what the Oilers could get for him… Personally, I feel like they could use a goaltender and after that, it’s a toss-up between a top-6 winger and a top-3 defenceman. 

All that said, the team is better with him and I feel he’s better with this team. But like I said above, keep Nuge forever, if he wants.

  • Pierre LeBrun (The Athletic): There’ve been murmurs around the NHL over the past week that Tampa Bay Lightning GM Julien Brisbois had “something cooked” with a team but was waiting for the season to be made official.

BLH’s Thoughts: Is Tampa Bay going to have to move Tyler Johnson AND Alex Killorn? That is a big chunk of the club let alone the salary cap and they don’t really have much coming up through their system at the moment. Maybe the Volkov kid is ready? But he’s not going to replace Johnson or Killorn. 

Would they LTIR Kucherov AND trade those two vets? That would be some serious cap room, eh? They could then go out and sign Mike Hoffman, Mikael Granlund, and pretty much anybody else if they didn’t take any salary back in the trades… Seems like a very unlikely scenario though. 

  • Fluto Shinzawa (The Athletic): Boston Bruins looking to see if something opens up on the trade market to improve the left side of their defence before re-signing Zdeno Chara.

BLH’s Thoughts: The best trade rumor I’ve heard is Ondrej Kase for Noah Hanifin, but I have no idea why the Flames would do that… The Golden Knights and Carolina Hurricanes have a glut of defenders available… 

  • Ken Holland (Edmonton Oilers): Gaetan Haas is set to miss the start of training camp. He was in close contact to someone with COVID in Switzerland. Hopes to have Ethan Bear signed before the weekend.

BLH’s Thoughts: So that’s what, a week of quarantine in Switzerland? Then he comes to Edmonton and does another week if he tests negative? Man… That is a lot of alone time… I feel for those who’ve had to go through that and I’m a pretty solitary guy as it is. 

  • Aaron Portzline (The Athletic): Columbus Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekalainen will try to involve himself with teams who need to get under the salary cap or others who simply want to cut payroll.

BLH’s Thoughts: Nice! Now we’re rolling with the speculation. If the Blue Jackets are open for business, they should be able to recoup some of those assets they blew going for the Cup a couple of seasons ago. 

  • Elliotte Friedman (Sportsnet): If Nikita Kucherov has hip surgery, it will take a while to recover from. I think the St. Louis Blues has an interest in UFA Mike Hoffman and the Edmonton Oilers are looking at Slater Koekkoek and Ben Hutton.

BLH’s Thoughts: Koekkoek had a really good series against Edmonton in the play-ins. I can see why they’d have an interest in him. Hutton is an interesting case. I feel like teams haven’t been willing to take a chance on him unless it’s been at a bargain-basement price. I’d love to know why that is because I was under the impression that he was a really decent puck-mover. I’d take Koekkoek if it was my choice. 

  • Rick Dhaliwal (TSN): Some people are suggesting Mat Barzal’s new deal will be around 3x$7M. I’ve heard Montreal is in on Andreas Athanasiou and the Vancouver Canucks are not in on Mike Hoffman.

BLH’s Thoughts: We did hear yesterday that the Habs are looking to do some more, right? How do you think Athanasiou would do under Claude Julien? It took some time for Jonathan Drouin to get sorted and I feel like Athanasiou is a similar personality… 

Is it just me or does anybody else think that AA would rip up the KHL on that big ice? 

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