Caps to use a forward to get a defensemen, Sens to move Talbot and Motte, Puljujarvi situation to be resolved plus signing and waiver updates.
Here is my latest blog post as today I give my opinion on some recent Waiver news and injury updates, a signing in Washington, and I also discuss a few recent trade rumours involving the Sens possibly being sellers at the deadline, the Puljujarvi situation to possibly be resolved soon, and the Caps to move a forward to get some help on the defensive side.
With the Senators not making up too much ground in the standings after their awful start this season, and Ottawa is currently 10 points out of a playoff spot and even though there was a lot of hope for the Senators to make the playoffs before the season started, they just haven’t been able to overcome that bad start and even though they are looking to add on the blueline, they may also be sellers and some names who could be on the block might be Talbot and Motte. Now I don’t think the Sens will be full sellers and look to move as many players as they can, but I could see them move Pending UFA’s like a Talbot or Motte if they don’t think they will be able to retain them and then maybe go after a defensemen to help their team long term, so I think the Sens may wind up being both sellers and buyers before the deadline.
Now for Motte I think there would definitely be some teams interested and I wouldn’t be shocked if he was moved, Motte is a very productive bottom six forward who can play on either line 3 or 4, and he showed just how good a bottom six forward he can be over the past few seasons, as last year he had a amazing season with Vancouver and almost broke his career high as he had 7 goals and 15 points in 49 games before he was dealt to NYR where he had no points in nine games, but has done well in Ottawa since signing with them in the offseason and has 3 goals and 9 points in 34 games and I think on a contending teams bottom six he would fit in really well, his contract isn’t to bad and Motte plays with great pace so I definitely could see Ottawa move him.
As for Talbot I also think he would draw interest from around the NHL, especially from a team who seems to have some serious goalie issues and could some insurance. Now Talbot is currently on IR and has dealt with his fair share of injuries this year, but he hasn’t played all to badly in his first season with Ottawa, having a .905 SV% and a 2.90 GAA in 28 games and although he hasn’t played as well as he did in the past few seasons with the Wild, I think Talbot is still a very good tandem goalie and would bring some good insurance for a team or two. Now I know there was some reports earlier in the year that Talbot was open to signing a extension with Ottawa but if they Sens can get something for him I think they would, now LA would make sense but it sounds like they aren’t interested in rentals, could maybe Pittsburgh or Vegas have interest in Talbot with both of their starting goalies going down with injury I think it’s possible but not a given, so I definitely could see Talbot be moved by Ottawa if they could get a decent return.
I also get the feeling that if they are possibly moving Pending UFA’s that maybe Holden and Watson could also be trade bait as Holden would make a good 3rd pair defensemen for a contender and Watson could be a good physical presence on a teams 4th line, so even though the Sens are looking to add a defensemen before the deadline, don’t be surprised if Ottawa winds up selling off some Pending UFA’s to try and get some assets back.
Puljujarvi situation to be resolved soon.
Now according to a few reports, it seems like the Puljujarvi situation may be coming to a end, as not only are the Oilers actively shopping him and trying to find someone to take him, but there is a buzz recently that with Yamamoto nearing a return to game action Puljujarvi may be placed on waivers to be sent to the AHL given the Oilers need cap space to activate Yamamoto off of LTIR.
Now Puljujarvi has been speculated in trade rumours for a very long time, as when he went back to Finland for a year a lot of people thought the Oilers may give him a fresh start, but they were able to convince him to come back and play with Edmonton, and he did well in the two seasons prior to this one for Edmonton, putting up 29 goals and 61 points in 120 games, but toward the end of last season he wasn’t playing too well and in the offseason trade speculation was really high, but the Oilers signed him to a 1 year contract extension and Puljujarvi hasn’t played all too well this year, playing a majority of game action on the Oilers 3rd line and only having 4 goals and 6 points in 49 games, so I think not having a top 6 role anymore and not getting dealt in the offseason has really hurt Puljujarvi’s confidence and a fresh start could be a great thing for him. Now I know the Oilers are actively trying to move Puljujarvi elsewhere and teams like the Blues and Ducks who may be able to give Puljujarvi a bigger role have been linked to him, but the talk this past week was that the they would not be surprised if Puljujarvi wound up being placed on waivers as Yamamoto who is currently on LTIR is nearing a return and the Oilers need cap space to activate him.
So I would not expect Puljujarvi to be on Edmonton’s roster past the deadline as he could be traded or may be sent down to Bakersfield as the Oilers really need cap space and they would get that with Puljujarvi being placed on waivers and some also think with the flexibility one would get with the ability to put Puljujarvi in the minors that if he was to go on waivers and clear, that maybe that gets a team more interested in Puljujarvi, but i guess we will have to wait and see, but with Yamamoto almost ready to go, the Oilers will need to clear cap space and resolving the Puljujarvi may be the way to go.
Caps to move on from Mantha and Eller.
The Caps have earlier this week extended Center Strome on a 5 year deal, and Milano on a 3 year contract extension, and with the Caps signing a few players to extensions they may want to move out a forward or two and maybe use one of them as a trade chip to acquire a defensemen who is signed beyond this season and with Mantha falling out of favour in Washington and Lars Eller falling down the Center depth charts with Backstrom and being in the final year of his deal, it seems like the Caps may be willing to move on from one or both of these players.
Now for Mantha there has actually been a lot of trade speculation this year as Mantha dealt with his fair share of injuries last year as he only go into 37 games last year and put up 9 goals and 23 points, and the Caps were hoping he could bounce back and have a good season this year and due to injuries this year he even started in the Capitals top 6 but wasn’t able to run with it and as the Capitals started to get healthy he fell down the depth charts as he started to play bottom six minutes and just after Backstrom and Wilson got back he was even a healthy scratch for a couple games even though he has gotten back into a bottom six role, he hasn’t been too productive this year for Washington only having 9 points and 24 points in 49 games this year and it looks like with other players getting signed he may wind up being moved, now I don’t think his $5.7 Million dollar cap hit for the rest of this season and next year really justifies his play, but he is still a pretty good middle six power forward and a team who is looking for another depth scorer could have interest in Mantha, especially if the Caps were to retain some salary but it seems like Mantha has fallen down the depth charts and his time with Washington is coming to a end.
As for Lars Eller, he has been with the Caps for a lot of seasons now and has always been a really good and productive 3RD line Center in Washington behind Backstrom and Kuznetsov, and has put up at least 20 points in every season with Washington and 30 in four of his six seasons, but this year he hasn’t been as productive only putting up 7 goals and 16 points in 51 games and given the fact that he is in the final year of his deal and has fallen a bit on the depth chart, it may make sense for Washington to trade him. If they were to retain some money, he would make a excellent 3rd or 4th line Center for a contending team and there would definitely be interest in him and with Washington a fringe playoff team right now and not having much defensive depth after this season, trading Eller to get some defensive help may be smart given the team is a bit deeper in the forward group now, so it also seems like Eller may be on the block for Washington as well.
So with the Caps having some much improved depth in their forward group this year, (not even including young players Lapierre and McMicheal), and it seems like they may use their depth up front to help get some backend help given Carlson is the only defensemen signed for after this season, so maybe the Caps move Pending UFA Eller for some defensive help, and while I wouldn’t guarantee Mantha is moved before the deadline and may be more of a offseason move, I do think that it’s possible they move him as well given how far he has fallen in the depth charts, so even though the Caps are in the playoff race, I wouldn’t be surprised if they got some defensive help before the deadline and if they moved one of or bothe of Eller and Mantha to make that happen.
Here is the Injuries from JAN 26th to JAN 27th.
Ottawa
Tyler Motte: has been activated off of IR after having recovered from his finger injury and has returned to game action.
Artem Zub: has been activated off of IR after recovering from his LBI and he should return to game action in the next game or two.
Toronto
Matt Murray: has suffered an Ankle injury and will be out for an unknown period of time for Toronto.
T.J Brodie: has been activated off of IR after recovering from his rib injury and has returned to game action.
Pittsburgh
Kasperi Kapanen: has had his Lower Body Injury status updated and he is now day to day down from week to week.
Winnipeg
Dylan DeMelo: has suffered a LBI and is currently day to day with the injury.
Here is what has happened with the waiver wire from JAN 17th to JAN 23rd.
Players who Cleared Waivers
Ottawa
Jacob Lucchini RW,C,LW (1 year left $.750 Thousand dollars)
Buffalo
Vinne Hinostroza RW/LW (1 year left $1.7 Million dollars)
Nashville
Micheal McCarron RW,C (1 year left $.750 Thousand dollars)
New York R
Jonny Brodzinski C (2 years left $.763 Thousand dollars)
Toronto
Dryden Hunt LW/RW (1 year left $.763 Thousand dollars)
Analysis: there was definitely some interesting names on waivers over this time frame and some really good bottom six forwards were placed on waivers but at least surprising to me, all of them wound up clearing waivers. First off with Michael McCarron, I don’t think it is too surprising at all that after he was placed on waivers by the Preds he wound up clearing given what he just got through. Now McCarron has been in the league for a couple of seasons now and he started his career with Montreal and he was able to get into 69 games with Montreal over his first 4 seasons and he did alright putting up 2 goals and 8 points in those games and was more of a AHL player and finally the Canadiens had seen enough as in the middle of the 19-20 season he was dealt to Nashville where he is right now and since getting to Nashville he has done good. He was able to get into 6 NHL games in the shortened season, and then last year played a huge chunk in the NHL and had a career year putting up 7 goals and 14 points in 51 games and was able to start this year with the big club as well but only had 1 goal and 2 points in 15 games, and then went through the NHLPA player assistance program for over a month and was then placed on waivers and cleared. Now I think that given the fact he was just coming out of the NHLPA program a lot of teams were probably wary of picking him up and he hasn’t done all that well this year, but I thought there might have been one team that wound up giving him a shot but I wasn’t really surprised when he cleared, so I expect McCarron to do well in the AHL and I would say he would probably be the Preds go to call up if they run into injuries. Next with Jacob Lucchini who cleared waivers for Ottawa. Now Lucchini was a undrafted player who would up signing with the Penguins a couple of years ago and did all right in a year of AHL play but was then moved to Montreal in the midst of his first full AHL year and he would spend the rest of that year and the next season with Montreal’s AHL affiliate and did alright but wasn’t qualified as a RFA and didn’t get a NHL deal but signed with the Sens AHL affiliate and did fantastic last year, putting up 51 points in 72 games with Belleville and was able to earn a contract with Ottawa this year and after another strong start in the AHL, he was called up to Ottawa where he would get his first NHL goal in 11 games of action before he was sent down after clearing waivers. Now Lucchini has showed over the past few seasons that he can be a very productive AHL player and he isn’t to old, but given his lack of NHL experience as he only played his first 11 NHL games of his career this season, I think that was the major reason no one claimed him as he is a pretty young player and did pretty well in his short stint but now he will for back to the AHL and should continue his strong play from earlier this year. Next we go to Brodzinski who I felt probably wasn’t going to get claimed after he was placed on waivers and I was right. Now Brodzinski is a more veteran type player as he has been in the NHL for quite some time now, as he was a 5RD draft selection all the way back in 2013 by LA and has played parts of the last seven seasons in the NHL even though he has been more of a AHL forward. He started online LA were he played his first 3 seasons and got into 54 NHL games and was able to put up 6 goals and 11 points, then he went to San Jose for a season and had a assist in 3 games before he went to NYR where he has played the past 3 seasons, and so far has 3 goals and 5 points in 43 games with NYR including having a goal and assist in 16 games this year before he was placed on waivers. Now I think that the Rangers are trying to save cap space so they are trying to have a below 23 man roster so I don’t think it is too surprising that he was placed on waivers and given the fact he is more of a depth player playing consistent AHL minutes, I just don’t think there was a appetite for him, so now that he has cleared he will go back to the minors, where he has done well this year, and should continue to push to be called up again.
And finally with Hunt and Hinostroza, when these two were placed on waivers I thought that they were going to be claimed as they are both really good 4th line forwards, so I am surprised they both wound up clearing. So to start with, Hunt has bounced around this year after spending a few years in the Rangers organization, as after he started his career in Florida and then spent a year in Arizona, he would sign a 2 year contract with NYR and last year he played consistently on line 4 and had a career season putting up 6 goals and 17 points in 76 games and after last years season, he would start on the Rangers roster again this year, but only got into 3 games before he was placed on waivers and Colorado claimed him, then with the Avs dealing with injuries he would play consistently in the bottom six and got into 25 games putting up 1 goal, and was then dealt to Toronto for Malgin, and wound up playing in 9 games with Toronto putting up a goal before he was placed on waivers and cleared. Now I thought that given he was already claimed off of waivers earlier and how good of a 4th line forward he was last year, I thought that there would be a couple teams who would have interest in Hunt as a decent bottom six forward, but obviously no one claimed him and he has been sent to the AHL, so I expect him to step up his game in the AHL and hopefully show enough to earn a call up at some point. And lastly with Hinostroza as he was rumoured to be on the trade block for Buffalo as the Sabres were looking to give him an opportunity elsewhere but apparently couldn’t find one and was placed on waivers. Now Hinostroza spent his first 3 seasons in Chicago and then went to Arizona for two seasons and played some of his better hockey over that stretch, putting up 3 consecutive 20 point seasons, then in the shortened season he spilt time with Florida and Chicago and didn’t do to well but then signed with Buffalo and in his first season with Buffalo last year he did great, as he had 13 goals and 25 points in 62 games and looked to be a very productive bottom six forward, but with a few young players getting bigger opportunities this year, Hinostroza fell down the depth charts and only got into 19 games before being placed on waivers and put up 8 assists. So given the fat he did alright this year I am surprised no one claimed him, but his $1.7 Million dollar cap hit may be a little tough to swallow and might be the reason no one took him. So I definitely think that Hinostroza still may get traded and should be one of the first call ups should Buffalo run into injury trouble so hopefully he will get back to the NHL soon.
Here is a list of all the NHL signings that have happened between Jan 26th and Feb 3rd.
Metro
Center Dylan Strome has signed a 5 year contract extension with the Washington Capitals that will carry a AAV of $5 Million dollars and the deal is 1 way. Now Strome has had a up and done career to say the least, he started out as a 3rd overall draft selection by Arizona but never really fit in well with the Coyotes and was shipped to Chicago to help Arizona acquire Schmaltz, and from the start of his tenure with the Hawks he did well, finishing the season he got traded with 51 points in 58 games with Chicago, but his production dropped a tad in the COVID stopped season and he didn’t do all to well in the shortened season for Chicago, and then amid trade speculation last year, Strome stepped up his game putting up 22 goals and 48 points in 69 games and even though he wasn’t dealt he signed with Washington after the Hawks didn’t qualify him and he went to Washington where he has fit in amazingly. Now Washington started banged up and Strome helped greatly as he was a top 2 Center with Backstrom out and even with Backstrom back now, Strome is still a consistent top 6 forward for Washington and is having another good season, so far getting 11 goals and 36 points in 52 games this year and I think he has done a fantastic job fitting in with Washington this year, so good for Washington to lock him up and I expect Strome to live up to this deal for Washington if he can continue this play, and I think Strome has liked his time in Washington so it is a great deal in my eyes for both sides and even though I am a little wary of the 5 year term, I think Strome will continue to do well for the Caps.
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