Some Brendan Gallagher rumors once more…
Jimmy Murphy of Montreal Hockey NOW: With the Montreal Canadiens at the bottom of the NHL, rumors are popping up quickly when it comes to Brendan Gallagher. Gallagher has five years left on his $6.5 million AAV deal. He also has a modified NTC and NMC.
Gallagher has drawn plenty of interest but there is a problem. Any trade would basically need to involve cap space to go back in some form. How much cap space? It depends on the team. For a team like Edmonton, who is up against the cap, that is a steep price.
Edmonton could offer players like Tyson Barrie, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, or even Oskar Klefbom to make things interesting.
As for Montreal, there are a bunch of players rumored to be on the trade market. It boils down to this. Will any of the buyers bite? Needless to say, stay tuned ladies and gentlemen.
Eric’s Staal’s quest, Evander Kane, and much more from Chris Johnston
Chris Johnston of The Toronto Star (mailbag): Eric Staal keeps trying to make his way back to the NHL. The 37-year-old forward is waiting on Hockey Canada to see if he gets a call to go to China. In the meantime, he waits for a new deal. That may be something which never comes to fruition. (He signed a PTO with Iowa of the AHL)
Evander Kane is waiting on a settlement of his material breach case with the San Jose Sharks. That seems to be the opinion anyway. Expect a new contract soon enough as several teams have an interest.
There is also some rumors with John Klingberg but little substance just yet. The same can be said for Jaroslav Halak. Teams are pondering what it would take to acquire Halak but again that would take time.
The one team to keep an eye on is the New York Rangers. While no one will say they would go all in, no one can deny they have the resources to make moves. The March 21st deadline will be quite a show.