NHL News and Rumors: Dale Weise, Alex Pietrangelo, Vegas Golden Knights, and Alex Ovechkin
Mike Hoffman will likely get around $4 million. Alex Ovechkin extension talks will start sooner than later. NHL employees will work at a reduced rate all season.
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Weise headed to free agency

Renaud Lavoie: Forward Dale Weise won’t be back with the Montreal Canadiens and will become an unrestricted free agent.

A sign-and-trade helpful for an acquiring team

TSN: Pierre LeBrun says a sign-and-trade is a complicated thing to pull off. It can be helpful for a team that has cap issues that would like to acquire Alex Pietrangelo.

“I mean, he’s a UFA on October 9, why would you trade for him? Well, you trade for him if you’re a cap-challenged team that thinks that getting the eighth year in that contract will make that much of a difference on the AAV. And certainly, if the Blues cannot break the stalemate with Alex Pietrangelo, I do believe that they will entertain offers on a sign-and-trade involving Alex Pietrangelo. It’s a complicated thing.”

Pietrangelo eyeing the Golden Knights?

NHL Watcher: Elliotte Friedman on his 31 Thoughts podcast on Alex Pietrangelo: “I do think he wants to go to Vegas if he makes it. My guess is they’re the team at the top of his list. And I think Vegas would do it, that’s kind of the way they’re wired, but they’re going to have to do some other things to do it”

Ovi to negotiate his next contract

TSN: Pierre LeBrun says that Alex Ovechkin is following in Niklas Backstrom‘s footsteps and is planning on negotiating his own contract with the Washington Capitals.

“Well, I’m told that Alex Ovechkin is representing himself. There’s no lawyer that he brought in. There’s no one else in the room. It’s just him – talking to the Caps front office right now. We’ll see if he gets a deal done this off-season. But there have been preliminary discussions about the future, about what a future contract would look like for him. And it’s him handling it by himself.”