In today’s NHL rumour rundown, we look at the future for the five Hockey Canada players who were recently found not guilty in the trial. Elsewhere, we look at how the Pittsburgh Penguins could target some young players, such as Yegor Chinakhov. Finally, the Montreal Canadiens would like to offload the Carey Price contract, and there could be a team willing to take that on.
NHL to Make Decision on 5 Hockey Canada Players’ Future
In the current collective bargaining agreement, commissioner Gary Bettman has the power to expel, suspend, fine, or even nullify the contract of a player for “off-ice conduct that is deemed harmful to the league”. While Dillon Dube, Michael McLeod, Alex Formenton, Carter Hart, and Cal Foote were found not guilty in the trial, where they faced sexual assualt charges, their availability to NHL teams is still undetermined.
The NHL released the following statement:
“The allegations made in this case, even if not determined to have been criminal, were very disturbing and the behaviour at issue was unacceptable. We will be reviewing and considering the judge’s findings. While we conduct that analysis and determine next steps, the players charged in this case are ineligible to play in the league.”
Penguins Could Look for Late Offseason Moves
There has been a lot of talk around Bryan Rust and Rickard Rakell this offseason, but Pittsburgh Hockey Now’s Dan Kingerski took the time to point out a pair of acquisitions the Penguins could make.
The first player was Yegor Chinakhov, who, after requesting a trade and having his agent go public, has been at the forefront of many conversations. Chinakhov is a young winger with lots of potential, and struggled to get along with head coach Dean Ecason. A team, such as the Penguins, makes a ton of sense for Chinakhov to want to go to. They are attempting to get younger and look for new players to lead the path forward after the end of a magical era.
Kingerski referred to the acquisition of Philip Tomasino as evidence that this is the kind of move the Penguins are, and should be, looking to make. The price for Chinakhov would be higher than Tomasino, who the Penguins paid a fourth-round pick for. Columbus Blue Jackets general manager Don Waddell shared publicly that they would only honour the trade request if they can get fair value, but they would look to move Chinakhov.
Penguins Could Acquire Carey Price
Further in the post by Kingerski, he speculated that the Penguins could bring in Price as the Canadiens may look to move his contract, which is destined for long-term injured reserve (LTIR). Price’s contract has one year left at $10.5 million, and the Penguins currently have over $13 million in free cap space.
The Canadiens are currently $4.5 million over the cap ceiling, and while it isn’t expected that they move any money out with roster players, Price would need to go on LTIR for them to be cap compliant; therefore, they would not accrue cap space throughout the season.
The cost of moving an LTIR contract that expensive has some recent examples, with Shea Weber being traded for a fifth-round draft pick twice. Kingerski says that the Canadiens could go as high as a second-round pick to move Price, but history says that is unlikely.
Soderblom and Blackhawks Avoid Arbitration
The Chicago Blackhawks announced that they have signed Arvid Soderblom to a two-year deal worth an average annual value of $2.75 million. With this, the two sides will look to avoid arbitration. There are still a few cases to be settled, either prior to, or via an arbitration hearing. Nicholas Robertson, Dylan Samberg, Jayden Struble, and Conor Timmins are the remaining cases that have had one side elect for arbitration, and their hearings are set on various dates prior to August 4.
