Welcome to another edition of Full Press Hockey’s NHL Rumors! The NHL Draft is history, and every team has high hopes for the prospects they add. Now, with free agency moves mostly done, rumors are still around. Clubs are always working to improve their rosters for next season. Some teams are having difficulty creating enough cap space to make moves. Others are experiencing severe injuries to star players. The new 2022-23 season is set to start on October 7th. In this Sunday edition of NHL Rumors, we will take a look at the Colorado Avalanche, Calgary Flames, and the New York Rangers.
Colorado Avalanche – Nathan MacKinnon
Rumor: Per – sportsnet staff – sportsnet.ca. Could MacKinnon become the NHL’s highest-paid player?
A quick reply to that query is: YES! He is certainly one of the most talented forwards to hit the NHL. The 2013 first overall selection by the Colorado Avalanche has proven his skillset beyond expectations. He now has a Cup to add to his resume and it looks like the Av’s will need to compensate him accordingly. Could he exceed Connor McDavid’s $12.5 million deal? It could happen. This becomes especially possible due to deputy commissioner Bill Daly’s recent remarks that the salary cap will increase sooner than expected.
Those helmet ads have seemed to help quite a bit in the revenue the league has received. While it could not happen until the 2023-24 season, MacKinnon will get a huge hunk of money. $13 million could be the magic number. Of course, with other star players like Cale Makar ($9 million) and Mikko Rantanen ($9.25 million), it will require some adjustments to the cap management.
There’s no doubt that MacKinnon deserves such a salary, especially after earning a mere $6.3 million in his current seven-year deal which expires after this next season. His career stats prove it. He has collected 242 goals, 406 assists in 638 games. In the postseason he has tallied 41 goals and 52 assists in 70 games. He’s good alright, and well worth $13 million.
Calgary Flames – Is GM Brad Treliving done making moves?
Rumor: Per – Steve Macfarlane – calgaryhockeynow.com. The Flames GM is certainly not shy about making deals. Is he done yet?
That seems to be the question concerning how many more moves Treliving may still engineer for his team. Prospect Jakob Pelletier appears ready to hit the NHL and with an excess of 10 defensemen on one-way contracts he has some wheeling-and-dealing room to use. Those who could be moved include Juuso Valimaki and/or Oliver Kylington. So who might the Calgary club look to add?
Here’s where Treliving’s expertise comes into focus. While it will take some salary cap magic, don’t count out Treliving from pulling a rabbit out of his hat. He could go after such big names as Vladimir Tarasenko, Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, Tyler Bertuzzi, Lars Eller, James van Riemsdyk, Anthony Beauvillier, Christian Dvorak, Cam Atkinson, Victor Olofsson, or Paul Byron. Quite the list! He also could entertain such free agents as Evan Rodrigues, or Sonny Milano.
One thing is certain, Treliving isn’t playin’. He has already improved his club excessively and wants more. Most successful GMs do and are skilled at doing it. Put Treliving in that class. Stay with Full Press Hockey’s NHL rumors to know the latest.
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New York Rangers – Two trade candidates
Rumor: Per – Shane Seney – nhltraderumors.me. Could Kaapo Kakko and Vitali Kravtsov be traded?
The Rangers could very well compete for a Cup this season. They have Norris Trophy winner Adam Fox on the blue line, and a very skilled set of goalies to lead the way. With forwards like Artemi Panarin, Mika Zibanejad, and Chris Kreider, they won’t have an issue scoring goals. So, GM Chris Drury may feel like he wants to tweak the lineup a bit more, just in case.
If Drury has any chance of convincing Patrick Kane of joining the Broadway crew, he will need to move some salary… and then some. He could consider moving Kakko and Kravtsov to accomplish that feat. Kakko has plenty of upside for a club like Chicago to include him in any Kane deal. He possesses a $2.1 million AAV through the 2023-24 season. He only had 18 points in 43 games last season and the Rangers may be losing interest in his slow development.
Kravtsov has not really performed to expectations and only has four points in 20 NHL games to his credit. He seems unhappy and it may be a good time to give him some opportunity elsewhere. He’s only 22 years old and may turn into a good NHL forward…eventually.
Drury has some assets to improve his team and hopefully move them further into the playoffs than this past season’s Eastern Conference Final loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning. If he finds a way to add Kane to his roster, he will be one happy GM.
That concludes this edition of NHL rumors. We certainly appreciate our readers! Catch our next article on Wednesday.