NHL Trade Rumors

Trade and Free Agency Rumors from Around the Hockey World

  • Brooks: Flames Interested in DeAngelo

    Larry Brooks of the New York Post reports that the Calgary Flames have expressed preliminary interest in defenseman Tony DeAngelo.

    He further reports that Sam Bennett’s name has come up in talks between the two clubs.

    DeAngelo cleared waivers on Monday so any deal involving the two players would have to involve the Rangers sweetening the deal, by salary retention or by other means. The Rangers could conceivably take back Derek Ryan’s contract in such a deal.

    As Brooks notes, if the Flames were to trade for DeAngelo, he would be subject to a 14-day quarantine after crossing the border.

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  • Today in Trade History: Ilya Kovalchuk Traded to New Jersey

    On this day in 2010, the Atlanta Thrashers traded Ilya Kovalchuk and Ansi Salmela for Johnny Oduya, Niclas Bergfors, Patrice Cormier, a 1st round pick and a swap of second round picks.

    Going into the 2009-10 season, the Thrashers wanted to re-sign Kovalchuk, but the star winger wanted to see improvement from the club, whose 76 points placed them fourth from the bottom of the standings in 2008-09.

    One way to improve the Thrashers that was out there in the trade rumors was the potential for them to use their goaltending depth to address their lack of forward depth. The Thrashers had Kari Lehtonen, Johan Hedberg and promising 21-year old Ondrej Pavelec in their stable, and the thought that they might move Lehtonen or Pavelec for help up front was out there. That opportunity would be wiped out when it was learned that Kari Lehtonen would require back surgery and miss the beginning of the upcoming season.

    All told, the Thrashers would have a relatively quiet offseason. Keeping all three of their goalies, they traded for Pavel Kubina from the Toronto Maple Leafs and signed Nik Antropov from the New York Rangers. They entered the 2009-10 season with minor changes to their lineup, and without a signature from Ilya Kovalchuk on a new contract.

    With Kovalchuk unsigned (reportedly asking for a $100 million extension) and the Thrashers sitting out of the playoff picture, trade rumors started to pick up at the turn of the new year.

    Pierre Lebrun reported that the Blackhawks might be in on Kovalchuk. The rumored names that would be of most interest to the Thrashers in a trade were a couple of 23-year olds in winger Kris Versteeg and defenseman Cam Barker.

    The Bruins and Kings were reportedly in on Kovalchuk as well, with young goalie Tuukka Rask apparently being off-limits for the Bruins.

    John Buccigross of ESPN suggested Kovalchuk trades for most of the teams in the league. Some notable packages:
    Chicago Blackhawks: Kovalchuk for Patrick Sharp, Kris Versteeg and Dave Bolland
    Boston Bruins: Kovalchuk and Johan Hedberg for Tuukka Rask, Blake Wheeler and the Maple Leafs’ 1st round pick acquired in the Phil Kessel deal
    Los Angeles Kings: Kovalchuk for Jonathan Bernier, Alexander Frolov, Oscar Moller and a first round pick
    New York Rangers: Kovalchuk and Pavel Kubina for Chris Higgins, Ales Kotalik, Evgeny Grachev and Michal Rozsival
    New Jersey Devils: Kovalchuk for Dainius Zubrus, Travis Zajac and Andy Greene

    As the calendar moved towards February and the pre-Olympic break trade deadline, most of the Kovalchuk buzz surrounded two teams: the New York Rangers and the New Jersey Devils.

    Larry Brooks of the New York Post reported early in the morning of February 4th, that the Rangers were not going to meet the ask of a four-piece package from the Thrashers. According to Brooks, the Thrashers wanted one young NHL defenseman (Marc Staal or Michael Del Zotto), one young NHL forward (Brandon Dubinsky or Ryan Callahan), one promising prospect (Chris Kreider, Derek Stepan, or Evgeny Grachev) and a 1st round draft pick.

    Later that day it would be announced that Kovalchuk had been traded to the Devils.

    The Thrashers received Johnny Oduya, Niclas Bergfors and Patrice Cormier from the Devils.

    Johnny Oduya would play 145 games for the Thrashers franchise before being traded to the Blackhawks for a second and third round pick. Bergfors and Cormier would combine for 131 games with the franchise.

    The story of Kovalchuk with the Devils had a lot of twists and turns. After the Devils were upset by the 7th seed Flyers in the first round of 2010, Kovalchuk went into the summer as a pending unrestricted free agent.

    On July 19th, amidst rumors of Kovalchuk signing with the Kings, Islanders or the KHL, he and the Devils agreed to a 17-year deal worth $102 million. That deal, which was to pay him $550,000 in each of the final five years of the deal up to Kovalchuk’s age 44 season, was deemed cap circumvention by the NHL and was voided. He would later sign a 15-year deal worth $100 million after the NHL outlined exactly how much cap-cheating they would permit. The league would later announce a punishment of a $3 million fine and loss of first and third-round picks to the Devils for the first attempt. The fine was later reduced and a lesser first round pick was given back to the Devils.

    In the second year of his contract, Kovalchuk put up 37 goals and 46 assists in 77 games, and 19 points in 23 games in the Devils’ playoff push which lead to a loss in the Stanley Cup Finals to the Los Angeles Kings. The third season of his contract started with a lockout and the schedule started in January instead of October. The contract wouldn’t see a fourth season, as in the summer of 2013 Kovalchuk and the Devils would agree to terminate the remaining twelve years so Kovalchuk would sign in the KHL.

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  • McKenzie: Four or Five Teams In On DeAngelo

    On an NBC intermission spot, Bob McKenzie says that four or five teams are “kicking tires” on Tony DeAngelo. He mentions Calgary, Detroit, Anaheim and Los Angeles as teams doing their due diligence on DeAngelo.

    Because DeAngelo will be under 26 this off-season, the Rangers could buy him out at the reduced rate of one-third of his salary, which would result in a cap hit of $383,333 in 2021-22 and $883,333 in 2022-23 if the Rangers eat his salary for this season. Because the Rangers have that fallback option, McKenzie reports they’re not willing to take back huge salary either through retention on DeAngelo’s contract or taking on a bad contract in return.

    He reports nothing is imminent, but the Rangers are in discussions with other teams.

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  • Insider Trading: Bennett, DeAngelo, Penguins GM

    On today’s edition of TSN’s Insider Trading:

    • Darren Dreger reports that the Flames are in “absolutely no rush” to trade Sam Bennett, and if the team can’t find an acceptable trade, they will continue to use Bennett in their lineup.
    • Dreger further reports that there is a ton of interest in Tony DeAngelo and that a trade could materialize in the next few days. We’ll file this one under “we’ll see”, as Dreger and the TSN insiders have been known to overstate the interest around the league in Ranger players.
    • Frank Seravalli reports that the Pittsburgh Penguins have received permission to Chris Drury, Chris MacFarlane and John Ferguson Jr., the Assistant GMs for the New York Rangers, Colorado Avalanche and Boston Bruins respectively. He reports that they are hoping to choose their next General Manager within the next two weeks.
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  • Werenski, Jones Apparently Willing to Sign in Columbus Long-Term

    Aaron Portzline of the Athletic reports on a rumor swirling around the Blue Jackets and the long-term future of core defensemen Zach Werenski and Seth Jones.

    The rumor is this: Pierre-Luc Dubois wanted out of Columbus because he saw a future where Werenski and Jones (who are both represented by Dubois’ agent Pat Brisson) get out of town at their first opportunity and didn’t want to be tied to the organization long-term for that reason.

    Brisson, Werenski and Jones all denied the rumor to Portzline, saying that they would be willing to sign in Columbus. The extent we can take the denial at face value remains to be seen. That would be the expected response whether the defensemen were or weren’t willing to stay with the club.

    The contracts of both defenseman expire after the 2021-22 season. Jones can be a UFA at that point and Werenski will have one RFA season left.

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  • Rangers Place Tony DeAngelo on Waivers

    The New York Rangers have placed defenseman Tony DeAngelo on waivers.

    https://twitter.com/FriedgeHNIC/status/1355924462777102341

    DeAngelo signed a 2-year deal with the Rangers last off-season with a $4.8 million cap hit after an incredibly strong offensive season. His 53 points were fourth among NHL defensemen.

    DeAngelo has had an incredibly rough start to the 2020-21 season, however. He has 1 point in 6 games, and has been on the ice for 9 of the 16 5-on-5 goals the Rangers have allowed this season. He was also benched for two games for an undisciplined penalty. Vince Mercogliano reports the Rangers have grown tired of the headaches he’s caused them with this social media presence in the past.

    Update: Coach David Quinn was asked to address rumors of a physical altercation after the Rangers’ 5-4 overtime loss last night, and he chose not to confirm nor deny.

    Update: Rick Carpiniello of The Athletic confirms that DeAngelo had an altercation with goaltender Alexandar Georgiev in the tunnel after last night’s overtime loss.

  • Victor Mete Asks for Trade from Montreal

    Victor Mete has asked for a trade from the Montreal Canadiens, his agent confirms.

    Oddly, Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin calls the report untrue and says he isn’t trading Mete.

    Mete has yet to crack the Montreal lineup this season, with newcomers Alexander Romanov and Joel Edmundson moving ahead of him on the depth chart at left defense. The 22-year old defenseman had 4 goals and 7 assists in 51 games last season.

  • Blues Looking for First Round Pick for Vince Dunn

    Jeremy Rutherford of the Athletic dissects where the Blues and Vince Dunn sit following his healthy scratch on Tuesday night.

    Rutherford notes that the Blues will need to clear some cap space from Vladimir Tarasenko is ready to return from long-term injury reserve and that it might be difficult to protect Dunn in the upcoming expansion draft with Justin Faulk, Torey Krug and Colton Parayko needing protection.

    Rutherford also reports that it’s believed the Blues would be looking for a first-round pick, but wonders if they might accept a second. He suggests Philadelphia, Winnipeg and Vancouver might be interested in in Dunn.

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