On the Vancouver Canucks …
- Ben Kuzma: The Canucks will either buyout Alex Burrows or trade him while retaining salary.
On the Edmonton Oilers …
- David Staples of the Edmonton Journal: Losing is not an option for the Oilers next season. The Oilers need to make major changes, especially to their blueline.
They need to look at Travis Hamonic, Tyson Barrie, Kevin Shattenkirk and/or Sami Vatanen. Should the Oilers trade their first round pick for one of those defensemen, or would should they package a group of veterans for a top defenseman or two?
How would a potential expansion draft play in to any trade? Darnell Nurse and Connor McDavid wouldn’t be a part of an expansion draft, but they would have to consider who would be on their protected list.
The Oilers eight man protected list could look like: the defenseman they acquire by trading their first, Cam Talbot, Taylor Hall, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Leon Draisaitl, Jordan Eberle, Andrej Sekera, Brandon Davidson, and Oscar Klefbom.
The Oilers 10 man protected list could look like: Talbot, Hall, Nugent-Hopkins, Draisaitl, Eberle, Nail Yakupov or Benoit Pouliot, Patrick Maroon, Sekera, Davidson or Klefbom, new d-man, Talbot.
On the stock of some pending UFAs …
- Lyle Richardson of Bleacher Report: Richardson looks at some 2016 free agents whose stock is going up or down.
Mikkel Boedker – his stock has been doing down since mid-season. He needs to turn things around if he’s going to get a big, long-term deal.
Kyle Okposo – his stock is going up and he’ll get a nice raise from his $2.8 million cap hit. Newsday reporting there have been no contract talks with the Islanders, so it looks like he’ll be signing elsewhere.Eric Staal – his stock is down and he’ll need to turn things if around if he hopes the Rangers will want to re-sign him.
Jaromir Jagr – his stock is up. Will sign another one-year contract with a nice base salary with incentives.
David Backes – his stock and offensive numbers are down. He could be looking for long-term deal in the $6 million range.
Loui Eriksson – his stock is up. Could get a five-year deal in the $6 million a year range if he hits the open market. Will the Bruins want to match that?
Andrew Ladd – his stock is down, but a nice run with Blackhawks could alter that. Will be tricky for the Blackhawks to be able to fit him in next year.
Milan Lucic – his stock is up and will have plenty of teams interested if he makes it to the start of free agency.
Keith Yandle – his stock is up. He’ll be the best defenseman on July first if the Rangers don’t re-sign him.
Steven Stamkos – his stock is still up and he’ll get paid. On the open market, he could get offers in the $10 to $11 million per season range.
