The New York Islanders had given one last three-year offer to Brock Nelson
Andrew Gross: Heard the last contract offer from the New York Islanders to Brock Nelson was for three years at a little more than $7.5 million.
“Think it’s been clear for a while Nelson felt his smart play was to set his value via free agent market. The money was good but Nelson likely looking for more than 3 years.”
NHL Trade: Ottawa Senators Acquiring Dylan Cozens From Buffalo Sabres
The Florida Panthers had been talking to the Carolina Hurricanes about Mikko Rantanen
George Richards of FLA Hockey Now: Pierre LeBrun said on Thursday on TSN 1050 that the Florida Panthers were one of the teams talking to the Carolina Hurricanes about Mikko Rantanen – the Dallas Stars, Vegas Golden Knights, and Los Angeles Kings the others.
The Panthers wouldn’t have done it without a contract extension in place.
As for the fitting in the salary, they wouldn’t have had to do much as they had (at the time) $4.1 million in cap space with Rantanen’s number at $4.625 million given the Blackhawks retention.
Not sure on what the return could have been. Sam Bennett and Aaron Ekblad are important to the Panthers and are pending UFAs. Carter Verhaeghe has NMC and may not have been interested in moving.
The Colorado Avalanche may have been looking at Trent Frederic and Brandon Carlo
AJ Haefele of theDNVR: The Colorado Avalanche were talking to the Boston Bruins about Trent Frederic before he was dealt to the Edmonton Oilers, the deal could have been even bigger.
“The intrigue here is that the deal the Avs were working through was larger than just Frederic and could have included top Avalanche prospect Cal Ritchie and defenseman Sam Malinski. That obviously would have been for far more than Frederic as the target is believed to have been Colorado native Brandon Carlo.”
NHL Rumors: Stars, Hurricanes, Canadiens, and the Islanders
The Avalanche also had some interest in reacquiring Drew Hellson but that changed after they traded for Ryan Lindgren. The Avs also had some talks involving Trevor Zegras, but might have been flipped elsewhere, with Casey Mittelstadt going to the Ducks. Not sure how that would have made any sense though.
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