Could the Coyotes-Bruins revisit Ekman-Larsson talks during the season?
Joe Haggerty of Boston Hockey Now: The Boston Bruins and Vancouver Canucks were the two teams that the Arizona Coyotes could talk to regarding an Oliver Ekman-Larsson trade before OEL set a firm deadline back in October.
Ekman-Larsson would like to remain with the Coyotes but hasn’t completely closed the door on a potential move. He’s signed through 2027 with an $8.25 million salary cap hit.
OEL to Craig Morgan of AZCoyotesInsider.com said that when he played in Portland, Maine during the 2012-13 lockout he spent a lot of time in Boston and really liked it. He added that he knew they’ve been interested in him for a while. Ekman-Larsson added that any further trade situations are up to Coyotes GM Bill Armstrong,
“That’s a question for (GM) Bill (Armstrong) to be honest with you. There’s not much I can do about it. I’m just trying to stay in the moment. I know everybody says that but I really had a good offseason. I worked out really hard to show that I wanted to be here, wanted to get better and hopefully that transfers into the stuff on the ice. I feel really happy that I am here but if that day comes where they ask again, I will deal with it then.”
The Bruins still need to re-sign RFA forward Jake DeBrusk, which could come in the $3.5 to $4 million range. They may decide to not bring Zdeno Chara back. Starting the season with a younger blue line could be an option and they possibly re-visit an OEL trade if things aren’t going well.
If they were able to land Ekman-Larsson, they would need to move out salary like John Moore or maybe get the Coyotes to retain some salary. Urho Vaakanainen would likely be part of any trade package.
Hoffman would be a nice addition if they could find the cap space
Joe Haggerty of Boston Hockey Now: Scoring winger Mike Hoffman remains unsigned. He’ll likely end up signing a one-year deal and likely a little more than the $5.1875 million he made on his last deal.
The Bruins being able to sign Hoffman would be a big boost for the team, especially at even strength. They’ve lacked secondary scoring the past few seasons.
The salary cap space to be able to sign Hoffman to a deal around $6 million could be an issue since they only have around $7 million in cap space and still need to re-sign Jake DeBrusk and possibly Zdeno Chara.
Teams like the New Jersey Devils, Florida Panthers and Nashville Predators have more salary cap space at their disposal.