NHL Trade Rumours – Huge Habs Trade for McTavish? Hamilton to Detroit? Utah Lawsuit, Kravtsov Return

NHL Trade Rumours – Huge Habs Trade for McTavish? Hamilton to Detroit? Utah Lawsuit, Kravtsov Return

We have lots to discuss here in today’s video, including some trade talk around Mason McTamish of the Anaheim Ducks. We’ve come across an article today suggesting what a trade could look like for the Montreal Canadians. Of course, we talked yesterday how they might be in desperate need for a number two center after the discouraging news on Kirby Dock. Plus, we’re also going to take a look at the future of Douggee Hamilton in New Jersey. Discuss a potential trade possibly to Detroit. Plus, we have a longtime NHL veteran goalie announcing his retirement. We have a couple of signings today as well, including a return to Vancouver for a prospect that we thought may not be back in the NHL who had a very good season in the KHL. Plus, the Utah Mammoth have a lawsuit on their hands that we’re going to discuss as well coming up next. So, welcome back to another video here at TopShelf Honk. As I mentioned, we have lots to discuss in today’s video. As you can see, I have a different setup here today. I’m actually away on vacation. Uh we’re away in Nova Scotia for our annual August trip uh where we come over and uh visit Digby, see some friends, have some great seafood, and uh visit uh parts um like I said, we’re going to be down this end of Digby for a little bit, and then we’re heading into Halifax for a few days and um before we eventually head back home. So, going to be some videos from the road this week, and you’re also going to see uh a handful of videos that I pre-recorded at home uh in my normal location. um which will be popping up here in the channel throughout the week as well. Uh first things I want to kick off though is news today. We got veteran goalender Anton Hudovven announced his retirement. Uh Hudin actually had a fairly long career. Was originally drafted back in ‘ 04 by the Minnesota Wild. Played for a bunch of teams. Was probably mostly remembered and known for his run with the Dallas Stars. Uh he started with Dallas in 2018 where he had a a big season. Played 41 games. Um, and he was also huge for them in the 2020 playoffs. Of course, that was during uh the Dallas Stars uh run in the bubble playoffs to the Stanley Cup final. So, um, Hudovin was uh was a huge part of that. Um, quite a character as well. I know before that he played for teams like uh uh Boston, Carolina, and Anaheim. Had, I think, a couple of stints with the Boston Bruins. Um he did have one uh run there for a couple years where he was uh one of the more uh I guess you could say busy backups um playing you know solid 25 or more games per year and then said had a good run in Dallas. So overall he had a a pretty solid career and uh has announced his NHL retirement. He has been out of the league for I think since 2023 after leaving Dallas. He did play I think it was one game with the Blackhawks and uh that’s the last we’ve seen of him. So Hudovan uh pretty solid career mostly as a backup but did have a solid run in Dallas near the end of it where before undergoing I think he had double hip surgery if I’m not mistaken after his run in Dallas which really impacted his ability to play. Um couple of interesting signings today. Uh, one a little bit low-key, one’s a a returning player, but the Maple Leafs have signed uh restrictive free agent defenseman William Vilnov. He gets a one-year two-way contract, so he’s resigned. The funny thing with the picture that they shared on VNO’s contract announcement, man, the uncanny resemblance to Mitch Mner. Um, you would think that it was MNER’s picture. And in fact, I had to do a double take. I thought it was at first, but um you know, is Mitch still playing for the Leafs with a different name and number on his jerseys? Kind of kind of funny. I mean, I remember watching I’ve seen VNOV play when he was even in junior uh bunch of times. So, you know, it’s just weird. Um didn’t realize the uncanny resemblance though in the Vancouver Conucks today. I made a surprise announcement. Uh Vitali Kraff is making his return to Vancouver, return to the NHL. Uh, of course, the former first round pick, uh, originally of the New York Rangers. Of course, ended up getting traded eventually to Vancouver. Things haven’t really worked out. He’s never really had a good solid run in the NHL. Ended up going back to Russia, played last year in the KHL. Had a real good year, was top 10 on scoring, put up 58 points in 66 games. Uh, he signs a one-year 2A contract, and he’s going to be giving the NHL another uh another shot here. So, the 2A deal is a pretty lucrative deal. if he has to play in the minors. It’s league minimum 775 at the NHL level 450 in the AHL. Um he also is not too far off from becoming a group six unrestricted free agent. So depending on how things play out for him next year. If he plays um more than 16 games, he will still retain his restricted free agent status next year. If he does not hit 16 games, then he will become a group six UFA and will be able to sign with any team he wishes. Uh at that point though, like this is a, you know, it might not be a big deal for the Canucks. It might not turn out to be anything impactful cuz you don’t know. Like he’s had his chances before. It’s never worked out. But this is a player who’s, like I said, he’s a little bit older, a little bit more mature, had a great season in the KHL. There’s not much risk here. The contract can be fully buried in the AHL. If it doesn’t work out, if he doesn’t play NHL games, he can walk as a UFA, so be it. But we know for a team that’s uh looking for a little bit more depth, they have found it without having to give up anything on the in a trade market. So to me, pretty good u pretty good lowrisk move here by the Vancouver Conucks. Nice to see him give him another shot as well at the NHL. Now, also an interesting uh lawsuit that we never really saw coming today, but I seen on social media this evening that the Utah Mammoth have uh filed uh a lawsuit against a company called Mammoth Hockey, who is a hockey bag company, uh which was established back in 2014. So, you’d be like, “Okay, well, the Utah Mammoth, the the Mammoth name has only been around a short stretch here, uh obviously just coming out earlier this year. how could they file suit against Mammoth Hawk who’s been around, you know, for like 11 years or whatever. So, it seems weird. Uh originally apparently uh I don’t know the whole history here, but based on what I could find on this information on the lawsuit is that the Mammoth Hockey Company when the uh when the Utah franchise named their team the Mammoth and confirmed that earlier this year, the Mammoth Hockey Company seemed supportive this of this through their social media. Um, and apparently they even inquired, I’m not sure if they actually got anywhere or not, but there was some interest at least in a partnership. Um, given the, you know, name similarity. Um, I don’t know if they ever got too far with anything or what not, but they it just seemed like they were a company that was supportive of the Utah Mammoth. And then something has changed and the Mammoth hockey company has then since been threatening litigation. Um, and now the NHL team because of those threats are taking action themselves. And I’m not really sure how they’re going to be able to do that, but uh, ultimately we’ll see where this goes. But, uh, the Mammoth Hockey Company has a I guess a good point of sense. They are arguing that fans of other NHL teams besides the Utah Mammoth won’t want to do business with them and buy their products because they’re going to feel like they’re supporting the Utah Mammoth when they’re really not. Um, that’s the thing. Like we know when Utah was looking for their team name, they originally wanted to be called the Utah Yeti. Yeti was the the preferential name amongst the fan votes and all the, you know, all the information that was gathered to determine that. And the Yeti company, which of course makes like the drink wear and the coolers and all that stuff, they had originally had conversations with them and they couldn’t work out an agreement to be able to use that name. Uh, so I mean the Yeti company apparently found that it was going to be too confusing for people. That’s the thing though. That’s why you have, you know, copyright, right? Anyway, so obviously there’s other names like Mammoth that had some degree of issue, but I guess maybe where the company’s hockey related and maybe not a huge company. I’m not sure how big of a company they are, but um just I’m not really sure how this is going to play out or whatnot. Maybe it’ll end up getting settled out of court. Difficult to say, but yeah, the Utah Mammoth are facing uh well, they’re created in a lawsuit after being threatened with litigation themselves. But I would suspect that the Utah Hockey Club will probably have much deeper pockets and probably have a much better opportunity to win and settle this. Um, I’m not sure what’s going to come from it or how maybe if the man with hockey company have to go with a name change, branding change, um, or or how that plays out, but I don’t imagine it’s going to have a great deal of impact on the day-to-day operations of the Utah Mammoth to the point where we’ll have to see a name change cuz obviously they just went through that. I’m sure they’re I would hope their legal team would have been, you know, in-depth enough and in, you know, to cover all these things, but we’ll see. Now, as I mentioned on the trade front, uh couple articles that I came across here this evening, looking at uh some trade rumors. One, Douggee Hamilton is a name that I actually talked about here very recently. And one of the videos that you’re going to see posted coming up here in the coming days. Uh one of the ones I did was uh trade protection or trade prediction, sorry. Um I made up a couple of prediction type videos. was one of them. Um, I said that with with the Luke Hughes contract that they need to get done. The Devils are in a situation where they are kind of I don’t they have to it’s going to boil down to what the contract works out to with Luke, but they’re pretty certain to have to move somebody um because they have like just under 7 million bucks in in cap space and I don’t think that Luke Hughes is signing for anything near that. I think it’s going to be much more. So, there’s been some talk. We already had heard rumblings about Douggee Hamilton being moved out of New Jersey on a more for a longerterm play because they have also some younger uh D especially ones that can play the right side whether it be Casey or Neich and we’ve talked about Ne being unhappy with his role and whatnot. You know, could they move Hamilton to create more of an opportunity for their younger D? There was that part of it. Now we have the Luke Hughes contract. So there’s a salary cap implication. Could they maybe keep Hamilton for now? move a guy like Andre Palot. Um there’s lots to look at there in New Jersey. They’re they’re probably gonna have to do something, but in the short term, Hamilton is a name that’s been out there. And there’s an article from red wingsider.com suggesting Detroit could be a good landing spot here. And really, it makes some good sense. I mean, if you take a look at where Detroit is at, their decor is by far their weak link of the team. Uh the team really needs to be able to move the puck better. They need to defend better. There’s a lot of aspects of that decor that need improvement. Um there’s two or three guys in my opinion that need to be moved out and replaced. Uh Hamilton could certainly kickstart that and begin that that process to make that dec. Um obviously he could be somebody who could really help them on a power play. He could be somebody who really helps him move the puck, generate more offense, um move the puck better. Now, not as easy and as super complicated just to say, yeah, the Hamilton could be traded to to the Red Wings. I mean, what would Detroit have to offer? I mean, you know, obviously they have some younger players. Uh I would suspect that the Devils wouldn’t be overly interested in getting a defenseman back. They’re probably going to be more looking like uh, you know, combination of, you know, picks, prospects, young, maybe a young forward, somebody like that. Uh, maybe Jonathan Bergen. We know Bergen’s been in and out of the rumor mill about his long-term future with Detroit, too. Um, maybe some kind of combination around Bergen picks prospects. I’m not really sure what it would take, but there’s definitely a connection of Hamilton’s name is definitely out there. Uh I’ve seen it from enough different sources, but again, he does have some control over his uh ability to be traded through his contract with the trade protection as well. So, it’s not a given that it’s going to happen and if so that if he’s going to try to block it or not. But uh Hamilton is a player to definitely to watch. And Detroit would be a good spot for him. Whether or not they could pull off that trade, it’s unclear. I don’t know. But obviously, you know, um something that does make sense for Detroit to look into for sure. Now, another article I came across and I’ve I looked at this site. I’ve seen this site a few times. We looked at some other articles and I’ve been critical of them before and I’m going to be critical of them again. There is a article from uh heavy.com. Um looking at a Mason McTavish trade to Montreal. Now, Mason McTavish is a player that we’ve heard from a various insiders saying that they think that he is available. We know there’s a bit of a I for sure if it’s far enough I want to call it a stalemate, but there’s definitely an impass, if you will, between the team and the player under contract. He’s unsigned. I think they have big plans for him to be a a big part of the future, but they have added a bunch of veterans. They still have lots of cap space. Um but there’s been rumbling McTavish isn’t happy which we’ve talked about before about at least hasn’t been happy with and you know thrilled with the possibility of what his role is going to be. Um you know is time and you know where does he fit in the lineup? Is he going to be a centerman? Is he going to be a winger? You know there’s just some uncertainty and obviously all the losing that they’ve gone through the last couple years can be a bit challenging on on the mental aspect of the game as well. Um so there’s all that right. So, we we don’t really think and have any reason to say that Anaheim definitely wants to move him. I don’t think that’s the case at all. It’s more of a case of I think any speculation is coming from more from the player side of it, but we’ll have to wait and see. Now, we talked yesterday about the very concerning Kirby Doc news around uh the fact that it’s looking like he’s not going to be ready to start training camp and wondering if Montreal might kind of push a little bit more urgency towards trying to get a trade done for a number two center. Now, McTavish would be a guy that would fit long-term. Um I would suspect that they would try to move Doc if they were going to bring in a guy like McTavish. But here’s the thing. This article suggests that a trade could be centered around Josh Anderson and Mike Mat. And when I was looking at the potential return here, I was like, there’s no way Pat Forbake is going to do that. One, I like I said, I don’t think he really wants to move McNavish. And if it does end up happening, it’s going to be because it’s more forced by the player and more of a case of, you know, just frustration on on all sides of the contract not getting done and the player wanting a change of scenery. And I don’t know that we’re there. I don’t think we’re anywhere close to that just yet. But if I’m Pat Verbique and I feel like I’m getting to the point where I have to seriously consider moving McTavish, I’m not going to want two aging veterans back. There’s just no way. Like to be honest, if Ken Hughes calls me, if I’m bad for Beak and Ken Hughes calls me to inquire on Mason McDavish, I’m asking for something big on their younger players. Like, if I was confident in Doc, I would I might consider that, but I mean, I’m not going to be because of all the injuries he’s been through. So, you know, I probably would ask for Slavoski. I don’t think Anu would do that. And so I know I’m not going to make, you know, but I I’m going to want something significant. I know they’re not going to really want to trade Slowsky. I know they’re not really going to want to trade Lane Hudson. So maybe I look to like a Rybacher. Maybe I look to uh a Michael H or, you know, something along those lines. Uh I’m going to want something really good coming back that is going to help me in other areas. So I I don’t I mean Josh Anderson has some value but you know with what they’ve brought in for veterans there between Granlin and Crider I just don’t see them want to add another veteran forward making more money than he’s kind of worth. I mean his last year was better and I Anderson has value to Montreal and his value probably is higher now than it’s been in a while but there’s just no way that Josh Henderson is gonna land you Mason McAvish. I’m sorry, that’s just absurd. Uh Mike Mat has value, you know, good puck movie defenseman, terrific skater, can play on the power play. Uh in Montreal, he’s not going to be he’s going to probably be the third option now for the power play. So, you know, I get the fact that they could move him. They’re probably not going to resign him. So, like it’s not, you know, I can see definitely a scenario where he would be moved. I can see a scenario where they consider moving Anderson too, but they’re not going to be Mat might be in a package to move to to try to get McTavish. They’ve already got veteran defenseman there. They’ve already got Trouba. They’ve already got Gudas. They’ve got a bunch of young D there. like they’re not going to want to add another veteran to block out another young D of theirs and add another veteran forward to block out another young forward of theirs and neither one of these guys are going to give them anywhere near what you’re going to get on long-term basis from McTavish. So like do Montreal do they have the assets to pull off a McTavish trade? They do, but it’s not going to start with something like this. Uh if if McTavish is a player that any team is seriously going to want to go after, they’re going to have to come after it with a really good young player as a beginning part of a package, probably a first round pick, and probably something else. Maybe a a roster player that helps them. Now, we know Anaheim wants to stop losing. We know they want to make a push for the playoffs. So they’re not going to make themselves worse, right? So they’re gonna, like I said, they’re going to want at least one of the pieces coming back in a McTavastry if they do it is going to have to be a good youngerish player that can help that team right now. And then maybe one or two pieces that’s going to be for the future. But they didn’t bring in Joel Quinnville and they didn’t bring in all these other guys. be and we know ownership wants to try to make a push for playoffs here. Like they’re just they’re not going to give this guy away. That’s just wishful wishful thinking. So I mean if you’re Montreal like and if you really want this guy, are you prepared to give up one of your top young talented players cuz you’re not going to get away with moving aging veterans that you just want to get rid of to make the deal happen. So, let me know what you think and all what what what is going to take what’s a what’s a real legit like Montreal offer to get to land mavage. And to be honest, if he is available and some think he is for the right price, I think it’s going to take a lot and I don’t think Verique is even going to consider it unless it’s a substantial offer and yeah, they could be well positioned to make a great offer, but I don’t know that they have yet. But do they need to go out and address that through a number two center trade? I mean, you know, with all the doc news, is this something that Montreal needs to do urgently, or do you think they should be cautious here not to give away the firm, so to speak, and to go into the season and kind of see what they have here before they pull a panic move? Let me know what your thoughts are on today’s news and rumors. We’ll discuss that in the comment section. Like I said, stay tuned for plenty of pre-recorded content, which you’ll see coming to the channel as early as tomorrow. You’re probably going to get maybe not every day, but most days there’s likely going to be two videos where there’ll be one that’s pre-recorded and then one that’s based on whatever took place that day for news and stuff that’s going around the league. So, let me know your thoughts on everything. Um, hope you’re having a great summer and I will catch you next time. [Music]

NHL Trade Rumours – Huge Habs Trade for McTavish? Hamilton to Detroit? Utah Lawsuit, Kravtsov Return
Time Stamps:
0:00 Intro
0:48 Khudobin Retires
3:15 Leafs Sign Villneuve
4:00 Canucks Sign Kravtsov
5:50 Utah Lawsuit
10:00 Hamilton Trade?
13:00 Habs Trade for McTavish?

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