Teams calling Blue Jackets about Korpisalo
Aaron Portzline of The Athletic: It wouldn’t be a surprise if Columbus Blue Jackets 27-year old and pending UFA goaltender Joonas Korpisalo is traded at some point this season.
There was some talk as late as last week that Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekalainen was getting calls on the goaltender. Those calls may have been more serious than the offseason calls when the market was soft due to the large free agent pool.
The most likely landing spots could be the Arizona Coyotes, Buffalo Sabres and Montreal Canadiens.
The offers last offseason were coming in at a mid to late round pick or mid-level prospect.
Maple Leafs looking to move a defenseman?
NHL Watcher: Elliotte Friedman on The Jeff Marek Show on the Toronto Maple Leafs: “I think they’ve kind of let it be known that one of their D who plays on the right side could be available. I would suspect that’s potentially Dermott but I don’t know if they’ve actually identified the player.”
NHL Watcher: Friedman added that he doesn’t think that it’s defenseman Justin Holl, despite him struggling so far this season.
Luke Fox of Sportsnet: Nick Kypreos reported that for right price right-handed defenseman Justin Holl could be available. Teams have also been told that right-handed Travis Dermott could be available.
The return for either may only be an ‘upper-mid-round pick. The Maple Leafs don’t have much salary cap flexibility to take on much salary. Currently, they only have three picks for the 2022 draft.
The Leafs currently have less than a $1 million in salary cap space and forward Ilya Mikheyev and his $1.645 million salary cap hit may need to come off LTIR.
Morgan Rielly’s salary cap hit goes up next season, Jack Campbell is a pending UFA, and defenseman Rasmus Sandin and Timothy Liljegren are RFAs. The Leafs will need to watch their future spending as well.
Holl has a 10-team no-trade list and a $2 million cap hit next year. Dermott has a year left at $1.5 million and would be a RFA after that.