Is it time for the general managers running the league’s best teams to do a little pre-Christmas shopping?
The NHL Christmas trade freeze hits Dec. 19 (and is lifted Dec. 27), and Arizona Coyotes GM John Chayka beat the deadline by acquiring Taylor Hall from New Jersey in the first big trade of the season. The Coyotes put together a package of prospects and draft picks.
“Taylor Hall is one of the elite talents in the game today, a Hart Trophy winner, a high-end playmaker and one of the NHL’s most talented forwards,” Chayka said. “We are beyond thrilled to add Taylor to our team.”
Some GMs have already played their first fix-the-team-now chip. Underperforming teams in Toronto, San Jose and New Jersey have brought in new blood behind the bench.
The returns are early, of course, but the Maple Leafs have had a decent run with new head coach Sheldon Keefe. Toronto has gone 7-4-0 and there is renewed optimism for the playoffs.
The coaching change in San Jose — Bob Boughner just took over last Wednesday — is too recent to have made a difference. Alain Nasreddine, who took over in New Jersey two weeks ago, is probably not going to make much of a difference with the struggling Devils, who are now without Hall.
Coaching changes in Calgary and Dallas had nothing to do with the team’s performance, but with questionable behaviour. Still, Calgary’s been on fire with Geoff Ward. And Dallas probably won’t skip a beat with Rick Bowness.
With the coaching card played, what’s the next item on a general manager’s play list? Why, trades of course.
It seems as if GMs, and perhaps owners, have a bigger appetite to make changes sooner. And with so many teams jammed together midway through the standings — parity, the league calls it — this could well be a seller’s market. But while rebuilding teams may be ready to move pending unrestricted free agents, and older players, GMs have to consider the salary cap when taking on large contracts. There are creative ways around it, like retaining salary, if you’re serious about your team’s chances.
As of games Sunday night, 10 points separated Edmonton (12th overall) from Ottawa (29th). Only New Jersey and Detroit are truly out of the playoff picture.
It’s probably better to trade earlier in the season, rather than later. “It takes time to integrate guys,” says former GM Brian Lawton. “This is more than enough time. You’ll have them for more than a half season.”
There have been 14 trades since the season started. Hall was by far the biggest name involved. Prospect Blake Speers is going to Arizona with Hall in exchange for a first-round pick in the 2020 NHL draft, a conditional third-round selection in 2021,and prospects Kevin Bahl, Nick Merkley and Nate Schnarr.
Devils GM Ray Shero will be looking to add to his prospects pool to support Jack Hughes and Nico Hischier. He has a couple of other intriguing pieces to sell. Wayne Simmonds, at 32, would be welcome in just about any locker room. His best days are behind him, but he’s still strong power forward and a good role model. The Devils could retain some of his $5 million (U.S.) cap hit.
The Devils could get a lot more for Kyle Palmieri, 28, who has one more year left at a cap hit of $4.65 million, a reasonable price for a player who routinely gets 20-plus goals a year. Defenceman Sami Vantanen, 28 and a pending UFA at $4.875 million, could also be on the table. He’s a right-handed defenceman who could fit in anywhere.
Another team looking to sell sooner rather than later will be the Red Wings, currently last overall. GM Steve Yzerman is in his first full year managing the team he once captained in its glory days. They have four defencemen over 30, each on expiring contracts. So any of Mike Green, Jonathan Ericsson, Trevor Daley and Alex Biega will hear his name in trade rumours. The Wings have picked 11, 10, and 11 times in the seven-round draft the last three years, but their prospect pool could still use some work.
Some teams are only fooling themselves if they think they’re still in it. In the West, the Los Angeles Kings are already making moves. They put Ilya Kovalchuk on waivers for the purpose of terminating the Russian’s contract. That’s a first step to unloading a veteran on an unwisely veteran-laden team that new coach Todd McLellan is struggling with.
Tyler Toffoli, just 27 and a UFA July 1, is probably GM Rob Blake’s best trade chip. Last year it was Jake Muzzin, whom he turned into Carl Grundstrom and Sean Durzi, a couple of decent prospects from Toronto.
Of course, to get you’ve got to give.
Kasperi Kapanen’s name is coming up in Toronto an awful lot, especially with Ilya Mikheyev and Pierre Engvall challenging him for time and the Leafs needing help on defence. Edmonton, trying to make the playoffs for the first time since 2017, has an unhappy asset, Jesse Puljujarvi, playing in Europe. The Oilers could use secondary scoring. Pittsburgh GM Jim Rutherford appears to want to move Alex Galchenyuk. And Buffalo’s Zach Bogosian might welcome a change of venue.
Around hockey
- Women score an invitation: The ECHL has announced that four members of the U.S. women’s hockey team will participate in its Jan. 22 all-star game in Wichita, Kan. Dani Cameranesi, Kali Flanagan, Gigi Marvin and Annie Pankowski each will be assigned to one of the four 3-on-3 all-star teams and participate in the skills competition. “We are excited to join forces with the ECHL to promote and grow the game of hockey” said Jayna Hefford, the operations consultant for the Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association. “We truly appreciate the support of the ECHL.”
- Duclair shines: Vegas’s Max Pacioretty (five goals, three assists), Ottawa’s Anthony Duclair (five goals, one assist) and Buffalo’s Jack Eichel (five goals, one assist) were named players of the week by the NHL. Of the bunch, Duclair might have had the most fun, scoring a hat trick — including the overtime winner — against his old team, the Columbus Blue Jackets. Duclair, who was traded at the deadline last year, took the high road. “I’ve just been given the opportunity of proving myself every shift,” he said. “Sometimes I don’t have a good shift or make a bad play, but the big thing is I’m right back out there the next shift and I can prove myself.”
- Cut like a knife: Blues centre Brayden Schenn is missing a piece of his left ear lobe and has a two-inch long triangle-shaped gash on his neck after getting caught by a skate on Tuesday in Buffalo. “I got lucky,” he said after being cut by Sabres defenceman Rasmus Ristolainen’s skate. “He stepped on my neck with his skate. Whenever you see a skate come you try to get out of the way as fast as possible. Sometimes you just can’t.” Ristolainen’s skate caught Schenn’s ear and moved down his neck. Schenn got up, blood coming down his neck, and went to the dressing room for treatment. He didn’t need stitches.
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- Roaring Twenties: A year ago, Max Comtois was captaining Canada at the world juniors. Now the 20-year-old is a regular on the Anaheim Ducks on a line with fellow rookies Troy Terry, 22, and Sam Steel, 21. “I think we know what everybody’s going to bring to the table,” Comtois told the Orange County Register. “We just wanted to stick to the basics. We all know we’re a rookie line. We didn’t want to make a mistake. We wanted to have the confidence for (coach) Dallas (Eakins) to put us back. And I think we did a really good job.” The Ducks have shown a commitment young players, and Eakins likes that they play together. “I think they fight for each other. I think they like playing with each other. I think they like the challenge of it.”
- Staying put: Arizona Coyotes officials confirmed the team will stay in Glendale for another season. The team is drawings larger crowds to Gila River Arena than it has in years. “We will absolutely play the 2020-2021 NHL season in Gila River Arena,” Coyotes CEO Ahron Cohen said in a statement. The Coyotes, playoff contenders this year, are averaging 14,244 fans a year, 28th in the 31-team NHL. But it’s up more than 1,200 from the 2016-17 and 2017-18 seasons. The team, which has an annual lease with arena manager ASM Global, has been clear that Gila River Arena isn’t a viable arena in the long run.
- Overseas: Sweden won the Channel 1 Cup with a 2-1 record in the round-robin tournament. More than 67,000 took in an outdoor game between Russia and Finland that was part of the tournament … Romania advanced to the next round of men’s Olympic qualifying with a 15-0 win over Israel. The Romanians will join Britain, Hungary and Estonia in the third round, Feb. 6-9 … Austria is heading to the 2021 world junior championship in Edmonton and Red Deer next year, following a 4-1 win over Slovenia in Division 1. Austria was last in the top tier in 2010.
