In today’s NHL rumors rundown, there is fallout from the NHL’s Trade Deadline day including rumors about teams being in on certain deals, others that fell through, and why other teams made trades that were a bit surprising. And, there was a huge trade being discussed all day Monday but never materialized. Why?
The Edmonton Oilers were among the busier teams on deadline day and Ken Holland among the busier of GM’s adding three pieces and moving a couple others. But, after listening to him on TSN 1260, it’s clear he could have done more.
Holland admitted he had other irons in the fire and was “in on” a couple other pieces. The deals never materialized and those players moved to other places but they included him looking to add another left-winger and a depth defenseman.
One thing he didn’t do was look for another center. He said during his media scrum with the team he was never really in on any conversations for another pivot. He also noted he was not contemplating moving the Oilers’ first-round draft pick in 2020 in any deal.
In other Oilers news, Kailer Yamamoto is out of the lineup with an ankle injury tonight versus the Anaheim Ducks. He’s week-to-week according the team. It could greatly affect how head coach Dave Tippet decides to insert the new guys into the lineup and means that Andreas Athanasiou is not a shoe-in to play with Connor McDavid.
Related: The Best and Worst Trades in Ken Holland’s Red Wings Tenure
You could almost see the concern on Jim Benning’s face when he was talking to the media in the scrum after the Vancouver Canuck’s deadline dad had come and gone. A number of the questions he was asked involved why the team went out and added goaltender Louis Domingue.
Starting goalie Jacob Markstrom left Saturday’s game (a 9-3 victory) with the Boston Bruins and was visibly in rough shape afterward. The netminder underwent an MRI on his knee Monday and the news wasn’t good. He might have to sit out 3-to-4 weeks.
Related: Oilers’ Holland Addresses Needs At Trade Deadline
TSN’s Bob McKenzie notes the Maple Leafs were seeking a first-round pick and a prospect for Tyson Barrie leading up to yesterday’s NHL trade deadline. And when asked if he was interested in re-signing Barrie, GM Kyle Dubas declined to answer, saying he’d use the rest of the season to see where Barrie fits wit the team.
McKenzie notes of Dubas’ plans over the day yesterday, “They want to try to do a deal like St. Louis did with Kevin Shattenkirk to the Washington Capitals three years ago. Or they want to do a deal like Andrej Sekera to the LA Kings from Carolina five years ago,” said McKenzie. The idea wasn’t to give him away for free but teams found that to be too high an asking price.
One of the big news items on Monday was an apparent trade brewing between the New York Islanders and Minnesota Wild that would have seen Zach Parise go to New York while Andrew Ladd would have come back to Minnesota. The deal never materialized.
According to reports, both Parise and Ladd agreed to waive their no-movement clauses to allow the deal to happen and speculation is financial complications were why the deal didn’t get done. Parise is signed through 2024-25 with an annual average value of over $7.5 million, while Ladd has three years remaining at $5.5-million. Not easy money to move around. There was also buzz Lou Lamoriello pulled out the deal once it became public knowledge the two teams were trying to do something. Apparently, Lamoriello has a history of doing this.
And, while this trade surprised a ton of people, Michael Russo of The Athletic notes that this is not the first time these two teams have talked about a deal for Parise.
Russo writes:
According to multiple sources, Parise met with Fenton last June, voiced his unhappiness and also told him he’d be willing to move to another organization if Fenton found the right situation. His preferred destination has always been the Islanders, sources say. Lamoriello, who drafted Parise 17th overall with the Devils in 2003, tried to trade for Parise last summer, but the Wild were unable to put the pieces together.
source – ‘Wild’s Zach Parise trade talks with Isles break apart at deadline (UPDATE)’ Michael Russo – The Athletic – 02/24/2020
TwinCities.com scribe Dane Mizutani reports Guerin said there’s a chance the Wild and Islanders could revisit trade talks this summer.
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