NHL Trade Rumours – Canucks, Sabres, Sens, Isles, McDavid Comments, Signings, RFA & UFA Rumours

NHL Trade Rumours – Canucks, Sabres, Sens, Isles, McDavid Comments, Signings, RFA & UFA Rumours

we have all kinds of NHL news and rumors to take a look at here tonight all kinds of trade talk on UFA rumors as we get closer to the draft and free agency tonight’s rumors focus on a lot of teams including the Oilers the Canucks the Leafs the Sabres the Ducks the Penguins the Hurricanes Islanders Senators Kraken and the Panthers that’s a lot plus we have a couple of signings today including a big one in Dallas and in Ottawa we have a trade earlier involving Mason Marchman some big comments from Edmonton Oilers captain Conor McDavid on his future kind of got a lot of people speculating and maybe looking too much into it but we’ll discuss what he had to say lots of UFA talk as well around some key free agents including Sam Bennett Nick Eer some RFA guys like Thompson NY and a whole lot more coming up next so welcome back to another video here at TopShelf Hockey as I mentioned we have all kinds of stuff to talk about here tonight it’s going to be a jam-packed video here yet again the uh the silly season is officially upon us and we’ve got all kinds of stuff so definitely want to stay tuned and use the timestamps if you want to kind of go through i’ll uh link those as best I can so that you can kind of you know get the pieces that you’re most interested in but let’s start off with some big news items we had some big signings today uh the first one of the day came early with the Ottawa Senators announcing they’ve signed Fabian Zetland to a three-year contract uh at $4.25 million uh the pending restrictive free agent was acquired by the Senators at the trade deadline from the San Jose Sharks uh which is really a nice pickup for them it was a trade that nobody kind of saw coming uh they gave up a couple of pieces including Noah Greger and Zach Stampchuck which really wasn’t a huge like haul like you know they they got him for a good price um it was believed that he was looking for somewhere around the $5 million mark from the Sharks which is why they weren’t crazy about giving him the next contract so they ended up trading him i know based on um the projections from like AFB Analytics and a few other contract places that I kind of rely on a lot of data on this is pretty close to what uh had for him and I know a lot of the the analytic people thought is this is a pretty good bang-on contract i know the the production from Zland after being acquired was not the greatest but you got to remember Ottawa was already in a playoff push had their top two lines kind of already set and they he basically was filling in like as a bottom six and occasionally getting top six time i think going into next year I would expect him to be more of a a staple in the top six so he should be able to get back to that 20 goal plus you know 40 50 point type of player that he can definitely be may maybe even more i I’m not sure he’s hit a full ceiling yet he’s only 25 so good signing overall there the Dallas Stars also got a very good team friendly deal uh with centerman Matt Duchain uh Duchain signs a 4-year contract at 4.5 million bucks per season um you know why such a teamfriendly deal well part of it obviously we do know and we’ll acknowledge the no state tax but I don’t really think that’s the big part of it one he really likes being a Dallas star two um he’s also getting paid from Nashville remember he got a pretty significant buyout from not previous uh long-term deals he had with the Predators he’s still getting paid a pretty significant sum over the next uh four years as well uh from that contract so he can pass that savings along to the Stars i mean did he have to do that no he could have easily gotten 67 million for sure in free agency he made it clear that after a couple of one-year deals he needed term this time he kind of wanted to settle his family and be in one place uh obviously they enjoyed being there and well um this works out jim Nil is quite happy to sign him he was a point per game player last year 82 points for 4 and a.5 million the only thing you have to ask yourself is is he going to duplicate that you know uh over the next four years is he going to be an 80 point player all those years the odds are probably against that but you know if he hits it at least one more time and even if he can be a a 50point player for most of the rest of that contract it’s still a good number especially with the cap going up so you you really can’t beat that scenario and then of course not long after the Duchine signing uh earlier this evening we saw them trade Mason Marchmond of course he spent a lot of time playing with Duchine uh they had pretty good chemistry but Marchment gets traded to the Seattle Kraken for a pair of draft picks um in 2026 third rounder and a 2025 fourthrounder i did put out a video earlier on the channel discussing that trade if you haven’t caught it you can get a little bit more of an in-depth analysis there but uh for now like essentially they gave Duchain Marchman’s contract so it’s same amount of money so it’s money in money out they’re right back to having just shy $5 million in cap space uh they do want to sign Captain Jamie Ben for probably a short one or two-year extension and then they have some other things to do they do also look want to trade uh Matt Dunia Labouchkin by the looks of things as well but that’s going to be other moves that we see here in the coming days but the Dallas Stars and Jim Nil getting down to business early um like that’s the further speculation i really don’t think they’re going to trade Jason Robertson if they can help it i think they’re going to try to move some other money around said like Dumba like Leouchkin unless they get a crazy offer for Robertson or they have because they’re also expected to have some um extension discussions with Robertson’s camp unless they get totally kind of shy of what he’s looking for on the next deal uh and decide it’s best I I really not confident we’re going to see Robertson trade but we’ll see i could be wrong on that the Philadelphia Flyers tonight also hired Todd Rearen a longtime NHL coach mostly as an assistant got a few years head coaching experience in Washington as well he rounds out the new staff there for Rick Tonet he’ll be the managing the D coach of course uh that’s what he specializes in been one of the better D coaches around the NHL for for some time so that’s a good pickup by Philly on that front and also too the Washington Capitals have given teams uh consent to speak to uh Ethan Bear uh Ethan Bear of course one point was a pretty promising right shot defenseman he’s still not that old he’s still only 27 of course came up in the Oilers organization um bounced around a little bit um had some some injuries i think he was off for a while for other things too and um but he’s had a nice bounceback season but the Capitals uh had him in the minors all year he put up a 46-point campaign in the AHL uh cuz he’s still 27 he shoots right he’s a decent size he’s like 5’11 6 feet around 200 lb like pretty sturdy guy um I have no doubt there’s going to probably somebody give him a shot for next year a lot of teams are looking for cheaper depth he could be a great option for some teams like I’m not sure you’d want to rely on him to be a top four guy at least not yet i think he might want to kind of prove himself a little bit more for getting a bigger role but I can see him being a pretty decent third pair option or like a 67 option and then if he can continue to play like he you know once was thought that he could be then he could certainly work his way into a bigger role I think so uh watch his name as as the coming days here as well leading into free agency uh of course we want to talk about Conor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers it was locker cleanout day for the Oilers today uh and McDavid had some quotes that has kind of got the fan base so I guess depending on who you ask you’re either going to get some concern you’re going to get uh confusion you’re going to get uh some people think it’s going to be an overreaction variety of thoughts and opinions out there uh we also heard from a variety of other players like Leon Dryside Evan Buchard Cory Perry etc and I guess the difference here is Leon’s already signed a long-term extension uh just this past summer so he’s we know he’s going to be an Oiler for a long time uh Buchard and Perry both made a lot of comments you know we want to be back we love it here you know hopefully everything works out to get a new contract all that mcdavid never said “I don’t want to be here.” He never said anything that was really negative but he didn’t explicitly come out and say when he was asked about his future that you know I love Edmonton i’m sure it’s going to work out um you know I want to bring the cup home he just to me he was still kind of ticked off and I think people are overreacting this cuz you got to keep something in mind is that he just lost in the Stanley Cup final a couple days ago for the second year in a row uh one of his quotes was that last year it was more like sadness you know and you saw in the Amazon series you could see him breaking down crying in the locker room after the game seven loss like it was heartbreak is what he said this year he said he feels more anger he gets angry and you could tell that’s kind of what I was thinking is watching him in the last couple minutes on the bench as the clock was ticking down it’s like you know Connor looks pissed um and rightfully so i mean you know you you think about the work they put in to get all the way back and to lose again it’s frustrating um so you know ultimately uh does he want to leave i don’t really think so i mean he’s pretty entrenched there in Edmonton uh he and his wife obviously have a huge house and she’s got a lot of stuff on the go i I think that’s the last thing on his mind but here’s some of the quotes like he said “Winning is the most important thing if I feel there’s a good window here to win then signing is no problem i’m sure we’ll get into it here over the next couple of weeks but I’m not in a rush.” So of course you know what remember Leon said a lot of the same things leon was in no rush either and you know he didn’t get an extension on July 1 and nobody really panicked right um you know he also said that the core has been together for a long time uh we’ve been building to this moment with that being said ultimately I still need to do what’s best for me and my family but yes I do feel like there’s unfinished business here in Edmonton so he was asked about you know do you feel like the unfinished business and that was his response and the part everybody’s kind of focusing on is you know is is the part where he says you know uh with that being said ultimately I got to do what’s best for me you’ve been into the Stanley Cup final two years in a row but outside of joining the Florida Panthers which we know isn’t going to happen where else could you go i I just don’t think that’s going to be the case to me I think um I personally take his comments as that he is angry over the loss i don’t think he’s completely processed everything here yet uh until we hear anything that McDavid wants to leave I just I don’t I won’t believe that it’s something he wants um I also wonder too if this is kind of his way of getting some take not taking a shot but kind of like making sure management cuz I’m sure they listen to everything he says very closely um let them know that you know we’re not we don’t want to falter again there’s clearly some parts of the team that are not good enough and we need to fix that and you know we we need to address certain things and like if you want me to stick around and I want to stick around and we need to do this so to me I think it’s just a kind of I think he’s ticked he’s angry he’s not he hasn’t fully processed everything yet and you know has he really thought much about an extension there he’s right there is no rush he’s got another year in his contract uh you know said and just remember Leon said a lot of the same things so I just don’t think the fan base should be overreacting the amount of mock trades I saw today over McDavid was ridiculous i mean it was fun to talk about um but I just don’t see it happening i really don’t should we be concerned about his future maybe a tiny little bit but I think it’s really early really premature and I think he’s got to give Connor time and let the management team go to work um like I suspect before he signs an extension this off season and I do think it likely will happen is that he’s going to want to see other moves done to make the team better first just kind of you know prove to me that we’re we’re serious here about getting back and making sure we win next time so that that’s my take on that when it comes to the Oilers uh one other uh thing I want to look look at there’s been a lot of talk about the goalending uh we talked yesterday there’s some speculation about John Gibson maybe being a trade target if they’re going to uh bring in a veteran guy uh apparently there was u Gibson if he is traded to he wants to be the the guy the starting guy apparently so he may not be the the perfect target to bring in if they’re planning to keep Steuart Skinner um it sounds like he would probably prefer to be more in a starter backup type of scenario instead of more of a tandem i guess that’s but I mean really I’m not sure how accurate that is but there’s some that believe that uh but another goalending target I’ve seen on Ebon Media i think it was Tyler Yamchuk actually talking about it wondering should the Oilers go after the Blues the Blues targeted took advantage of their situation last year and now they’ve got an RFA themselves and goalie Joel Hoffer would it make sense to go after Hoffer with an offer sheet i mean it doesn’t mean he’s going to sign it for one um they have about $5 million in space and they don’t have a lot of contracts to be done so I mean you might have to and really I don’t think the Oilers are in a predicament where they can really overpay too much but it could put them in a situation where they you know the mansion they’d be right up against the cap you know if you get him maybe just shy of 5 million you know one of the lower um brackets where you only have to give up like a second round or something like that kind of the same scenario that they did with Broberg um what do you think of that idea cuz I know it’s something to look at i mean it’s revenge on the offer sheets I think is a real thing obviously we’ve seen it happen before hoer’s a good young goalie i don’t know though i mean as much as it might be interesting to have a young goalie tandem that you keep Skinner around you bring in Hoer um yeah okay they’re they’re younger goalies they’re both they have potential hoffer’s got some but he doesn’t have any playoff experience you don’t know how he’s going to do in the playoffs i don’t think you can really take a chance that your goalending to be upgraded is going to be guesswork here i think you need somebody with some more serious um experience now I know earlier in the season they they apparently did have legit serious conversations with the Bruins over Jeremy Swayman now they didn’t go too far with those but they did make serious inquiries i’m not sure if they got to the point where an offer was on the table uh or what have you but they were seriously inquiring when the Bruins was starting to when their season was kind of starting to tumble down they were falling apart and they’re starting to sell things off they’re like geez maybe we can get him and obviously they didn’t but could they revisit that i don’t know what they do but goalending is going to be a huge part I think of them trying to make their team better for sure so we’ll see but that’s the latest on the Oilers lots of other things around the league a variety of this is going to be trade and free agency we may kind of jump back and forth uh Vancouver Conucks are trying to acquire Marco Rossi from Minnesota uh they’ve had some pretty serious conversations with the Wild uh and they’ve gotten as far as making an offer that is yet to be accepted of course the deal hasn’t happened but reportedly according to Vancouver Media they had the 15th overall pick in the 2025 draft on the table along with a prospect we don’t know who the prospect was uh but at this point Minnesota has rejected that if they’re going to trade Rossy we know the Wild they don’t they don’t want to make their team worse so the belief is is they want another player back they feel like they can you know give them a different type of player but like the useful player today um or they can get some uh futurebased compensation they can flip to another team to get that player that way so that’s probably why they haven’t accepted this deal if they’re going to take a first round pick and something for them maybe they want a higher pick i don’t know but the Canucks are trying to get Rossy we’ll see if those conversations continue and if the offer picks up it gets any better trying to acquire him but they are in on him uh Noah Dobson according to Frank Sarah Valley he’s a pending restricted free agent with the Islanders we know the Islanders have been a busy team here uh in the rumor mill for the past few days reportedly he’s looking for 11 million bucks um some wonder if he’s asking for the moon hoping to get traded i don’t really think that’s the case i think he’s looking for his value if you look at what other defenseman similar age and production are getting it’s not is it a little high maybe but it’s not that crazy really so you know that’s what he’s looking for whether or not he gets it or could it lead to a trade we don’t know cuz there’s been a lot of chatter about the Islanders and the Bruins and to some degree the Flyers as well um around a couple of things we know the Islanders had talks involving we know that guys like Pio was involved and Romanov um were in the mix for different kind of trade scenarios that the Islanders and Bruins or Flyers were all discussing uh there was some talk that the Islanders are trying to land another firstrounder uh either the Bruins or the Flyers first round pick to try to get James Haggins they want to try to snag Schaefer and Haggins while moving out some pieces off their roster um you know it might take a player like Dobson for example to get one of those i don’t know i’m not sure how serious they are about wanting to make that happen but the Islanders are definitely uh they have a few things that are kind of in play here uh like I said the Bruins and Flyers are the main teams they’re talking to those are the main pieces that we’ve heard or involved i can’t confirm or deny that Dobson is in in those conversations i don’t know that he is but I know he’s looking for a big contract and they have to decide if they’re going to pay him or if they’re going to uh you know look to include him and maybe try to grab a couple of young prospects inside so we’ll see uh around the Islanders they’re definitely going to be an interesting team to watch here in the coming days sam Bennett of course uh you know the MVP for the playoffs cons trophy winner he’s going to get paid handsomely no matter where he plays next year i you know I can say with confidence and I can without being a mind readader or having any inside intel that he wants to be a Florida Panther uh Pier Lebron though of TSN is reporting that Bennett is not going to if he wants if he is going to insist on getting like a $10 million deal he’s not going to get it in Florida there’s no way any of their free agents whether it be him Marshia and Reclad are going to get paid more than Barkov Kachchuck Reinhardt it’s just not going to happen uh in order for them to have a chance for all three of those guys to stay they have to take a little bit less for example they have I think it was like $19 million in cap space but they have a few other you know players that they need to sign or replace besides those big three um you know there’s some chatter marshian to stay in Florida might even take six bennett might take like seven you know that gives you like 13 million that still leaves $6 million on the table i don’t think they can do Eblad 2 personally if they keep those two guys but you know they’re definitely not going to be overp payments for sure if Bennett really wants to cash in because out of all these guys Bennett’s the guy who’s made the least amount of money he hasn’t had a huge contract yet this is his chance to cash in um so it’s going to boil down to what’s more important to him if he wants 10 million I think he’ll probably get it in free agency but if he prefers to stay in Florida it’s probably going to be like 775 or something like smaller like that would be kind of my guess here uh when it comes to like we did talk briefly about John Gibson with the Anaheim Ducks uh Dave Pangoton is reporting that the Ducks and Pat Verique are willing to retain salary so his contract’s already not terrible to begin with especially with the cap increases but if they retain a couple billion dollars on it and knock it down to say like you know 4 million or something that could be a pretty attractive piece so um the Ducks are definitely willing to do what they can to make sure a Gibson trade is something that happens and makes it worth their while for other teams um JJ Purka getting lots of attention according to Frank Sarah Valley a number of teams are um showing different levels of interest and it’s this the list of teams that are inquiring on perkura is probably longer than this but we can confirm with uh Frank’s report that the Islanders the Blackhawks the Rangers the Lightning and the Canucks have all shown serious levels of interest and had uh engaged in dialogue to see what it might take to get a deal we’ll see the belief is Purker will be uh either before or at the draft will be one of the top guys to watch get moved uh the Penguins and Brian Russ the seems like a trade involving Brian Russ is maybe more likely than I originally thought uh checking into his contract uh one thing I didn’t realize at first when the new the rumor first came around a few days ago that he could be on the block and he could be a player that’s moved uh that he has a no move clause but it’s actually expiring at the end of June so when you go get into July 1st he’s no longer going to have any trade protection and it seems like Kyle Dubis is pretty set on moving out as many veterans as possible we’ve already heard that they’re not going to offer to uh to resign Malcolin so he this is going to be his final year as a Penguin you got to wonder they’re probably not going to be a playoff team of course at least I wouldn’t suspect could he be a trade piece at the deadline you know uh that’s going to be a name to watch we also know that um other veterans on the Penguins have been in and out of the rumor mill here whether it be Eric Carlson Ricard Raquel Brian Rust so it seems to me like I think they want to go into tank mode myself and really go for Gavin McKenna that that seems to be if I had to get inside Kyle Dubis’ brain with all the speculation and rumors around that team that seems to be the strategy so a Brian Rush trade is probably more likely than I may have originally thought a few days ago because of that protection expiring great score good contract could be a good help to a lot of teams uh Nikolai Eers out of Winnipeg one team to watch for them according to TSN’s Darren Dreger is the Hurricanes uh which makes a lot of sense one thing he said is if Eers leaves Winnipeg one thing he’s heard is that Eers kind of wants quiet he doesn’t want to go into I think he’s maybe had enough of the crazy Canadian market um not to say that he’s completely thrown in the towel here but if he does leave that could be part of it so uh you know expect him to to to go i think he I think winning is important but also you know maybe a lower scrutinized area so Carolina does make a lot of sense with him and there’s still some rumblings and I said this before when I did the Hurricanes offseason plan team video just not long ago i got a funny feeling that they they are having conversations about maybe trading Andreas Fetchesov and there’s been some rumblings out there that there are some conversations and Chicago was one of the teams to watch um so can’t confirm that um still working on kind of nailing down more uh people to confirm that that’s something that’s maybe possible but I honestly think they should be looking into it myself um that team needs to be able to score more big goals in the playoffs and Spikov’s been quiet lately i don’t really feel he’s living up fully to that contract i think there’s some risk with it moving forward so I I’m not convinced for sure they’re going to do it they’re only going to do it if they get the right deal and if they can pick up another top six winger that they think can be even better for them u cuz they’re not going to make themselves worse that’s for sure so that’s only with the Chicago trade is why would they do that who are they going to get from the Blackhawks i don’t really know there’s anybody there unless they did like a flip for another you know get a big asset they like to flip to another team for another player or something i don’t know we’ll see but just watch that watch that name um another thing to watch as well Toronto Maple Leafs and RFA forward Matthew Ny uh of course we fully expect at some point something will get worked out and he’ll be leaf with a new contract but right now there’s apparently a major gap in negotiations uh earlier indications uh tell us that there’s um a really big ask from the NY camp on a contract we don’t know exactly what the number is um but as much as the Leafs would probably love to sign this guy for seven or eight years the belief is he’s going to take the Matthews approach and want to go shorter term like 3 to 5 years and maybe even basically walk himself right to free agency now Matthews kind of did the same sort of thing doesn’t mean for sure he’s going to leave or anything like that but it’s more about uh maximizing your earnings uh the sooner you can renew your contract you give yourself a few years to keep improving improving cap going up cash in again i mean it makes sense from a athlete uh earning potential standpoint uh but it’s going to be challenging we know the Leafs are very likely losing MNER we don’t know where things stand with except that they’re still negotiating and that they’re hoping to get something worked out for him to stay but obviously the N contract will impact a lot of the other things they do uh you know if they if he’s looking for say 9 million and the team is only comfortable with like seven that’s a huge gap and I could drag on and I’m sure they’d rather have the nice contract done sooner than later couple of things one to make sure that there’s no chance of an offer sheet and secondly so that they know how much exactly other like cap dollars they have to work on other aspects of the team so right now there’s a big gap that could always change but uh yeah the negotiations on that front are not off to a good start so definitely worth monitoring uh for sure uh the Seattle Kraken are another team to watch of course I picked up Mesa Marchment today and it is believed that they do have Jared McCann available uh right now a couple of teams that have been linked to him include the Canucks and the Senators um and the Rangers I think to some degree as well so obviously he has you know history with Vancouver to me he would be the type of player that would make sense for the Suns after signing Zetterland they need to determine they still have to figure out if they’re signing Jaru negotiations continue on that front um and then by the time they even if they do sign Jaru they get to sign Marilyn as their backup goalie and they have a couple other little things they they could probably add whether it be trade or free agency they could probably add one more player that could be in like that $5 million or so range which is what he makes and if they choose to improve the forward group uh obviously something would have to go out for him to come in as well but it kind of makes sense and same thing in Vancouver like they they have some turnover there in the wings with Besser likely departing in free agency or at least we think so um you know I’m not sure Connor Garland’s there long term you know so they’re going to need some wingers there and maybe a reunion with his old club is something that makes sense but um but yeah there’s a lot going on it’s going to get even crazier here in the coming days trades are picking up we had one yesterday we had one today um you know signings are starting to pick up we’re just over a week away from the NHL draft keep in mind as well the NHL buyout window opens 48 hours after the Stanley Cup was presented so of course that opens up on Friday which is tomorrow so we’re probably going to get our first um batch of players going through buyouts there’s probably bound to be a few anyways and then we’ll likely that that will be open for a little bit so we’ll see what happens let me know your thoughts on all today’s news and rumors down in the comments we’ll discuss further if you’re new to the channel of course make sure you subscribe and stick around we’ll keep you up to date with all the offseason stuff all the trades all the free agent rumors everything you need to know to keep up with all the NHL offseason news thanks for watching i’ll catch you next time [Music]

NHL Trade Rumours – Canucks, Sabres, Sens, Isles, McDavid Comments, Signings, RFA & UFA Rumours
Time Stamps:
0:00 Intro
0:50 Sens Sign Zetterlund
2:40 Stars Sign Duchene
4:00 Stars Trade Marchment
5:00 Flyers Hire Reirden
5:55 Ethan Bear
7:00 McDavid Comments
12:00 Oilers Goalie Rumours
15:00 Canucks Want Rossi?
16:00 Isles Rumours
18:00 Sam Bennett Contract Rumours
19:00 Ducks rumours
20:00 Several Teams Interested in Peterka
20:30 Pens Trading Rust?
21:40 Ehlers UFA Rumours
23:30 Knies & Leafs Big Gap?
25:30 Sens & Canucks Interested in McCann?

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