Scouting the Blackhawks and Stars
Ben Pope: Scouts listed to attend last night’s Chicago Blackhawks and Dallas Stars game include the Edmonton Oilers, Minnesota Wild, Seattle Kraken, Boston Bruins, and the Philadelphia Flyers.
Jim Matheson: The Edmonton Oilers have been linked to Blackhawks forwards Patrick Kane and Sam Lafferty, and possibly defenseman Jake McCabe unless they are on his seven-team no-trade list.
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Mark Spector: Have heard that McCabe has the Oilers on his no-trade list. The Oilers are still interested in some Blackhawks players. Lafferty’s game is out there.
Bruce LeVine: Would be okay with the Stars taking a run at Kane but getting the math to work wouldn’t be easy.
Blackhawks forward Max Domi is a pending UFA and would be cheaper to acquire and easier to fit under the cap.
The Wild are trying to move some pieces around, maybe to fit in Brock Boeser?
Michael Russo and Joe Smith of The Athletic: Brock Boeser has two years left on his contract at a $6.65 million cap hit and he’d love to play in his home State of Minnesota. The problem for the Minnesota Wild is their cap hell for those years.
Boeser’s agent, Ben Hankinson, has permission to talk to teams and has been talking to the Wild.
“They’re trying to move some things around, potentially,” Hankinson said Wednesday on The Athletic Hockey Show. “More importantly, maybe are they on the inside (of the playoffs)? They obviously had a big win last night. There’s 82 games, you don’t think one win would be so important. But where are they sitting? Does Billy want to add? Or could he be a potential seller?
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“But where does Brock Boeser fit? I think he fits in perfectly (as) a top-six scoring wing, probably playing with (Matt) Boldy. But there are other pieces in play. There are rumors that (Jordan) Greenway could be going. Obviously the whole (Matt) Dumba rumors. (Calen) Addison has been scratched a little bit, too. There’s a ton at play.”
Hankinson added that the Vancouver Canucks would have to retain salary, which it something they’d rather not do.