Rangers trying to trade Libor Hajek
Mark Sanchez of the New York Post: Larry Brooks reports that New York Rangers GM Chris Drury is trying to trade defenseman Libor Hajek. If they were to put him on waivers they would likely lose him.
Larry Brooks: The Rangers are keeping eight defensemen for now and sent Vitali Kravtsov and Morgan Barron to the AHL. Hajek remains with the team for now.
Blackhawks looking to move Dylan Strome?
NHL Watcher: Friedman on his 31 Thoughts Podcast on the Chicago Blackhawks:
“I’m hearing some stuff about the potential of maybe Dylan Strome moving”.
Are the Ducks the best landing spot for Jack Eichel?
NHL Watcher: Elliotte Friedman on his 31 Thoughts Podcast on the Jack Eichel situation:
“I think the problem is, first of all you need to clear cap room to make a deal, so I don’t think teams are necessarily going to take great players off their roster…We talked about this, they’re (Buffalo) more interested in picks and prospects”.
“To me if anyone’s doing that deal right now it’s a team like Anaheim, but they’re grinding away with teams that might eventually do it”.
Ducks that could be moved this year
Eric Stephens of The Athletic: (mailbag) John Gibson to the Pittsburgh Penguins has been speculated in the past. Can’t see the Penguins wanting to trade Jake Guentzel. Would forward Kasperi Kapanen and a 2022 first-round pick work? Tristan Jarry coming back to the Ducks makes some short-term sense.
Before would say ‘absolutely’ that John Gibson would start the 2022-23 season with the Ducks but now isn’t as sure.
Josh Manson and Rickard Rakell are in the final year of their contracts. Both players need to bounce back from last year and increase their rental trade value. Rakell should be playing with Trevor Zegras and Max Comtois so he’ll be in a position to put up some offensive numbers.
If Rakell is able to be on a 20-plus goal pace, he should draw interest from some contenders.
Adam Henrique has three years left on his contract at a $5.8 million cap. The Ducks retaining up to 50 percent of his salary might interest some teams.