Welcome to another edition of NHL Rumours! Today is a great day for hockey, as the Hughes brothers are set to face each other for the first time as the three of them. There are other juicy matchups on tonight’s schedule, so make sure to check out Last Word on Hockey’s NHL Predictions! Today we focus on rumours regarding defencemen on the Calgary Flames and San Jose Sharks.
NHL Rumours
Calgary Flames
Rumour: Elliote Friedman on 32 Thoughts Podcast discusses the future of Chris Tanev
The first domino fell when the Flames decided to trade Nikita Zadorov to the Vancouver Canucks. Craig Conroy has his work cut out for him, as there are other pending free agents with futures to be decided. Noah Hanifin has drawn interest from the Arizona Coyotes and teams will line up endlessly if Elias Lindholm is made available. However, the next player to keep an eye on is Chris Tanev.
For teams looking for extra depth on the back end, Tanev is the perfect player. He is strong in his own end and is also capable of helping offensively. When he is on the ice, the team is doing good things offensively, including scoring goals from the high danger area of the ice (11). He does his job defensively and has the fourth most expected goals against among Calgary defencemen. You’re getting a player that can do it both ways but Friedman sheds light on another possibility.
A trade is the most expected outcome regarding his future but what about an extension? Friedman says that some have approached him and think Calgary aims to keep him. If Conroy believes that he wants to remain in Calgary, an extension could be a likely scenario.
With the amount of expiring contracts on the blue line, signing Tanev further would be a boost and a building block going forward. Calgary is a team to watch for many reasons but Tanev is the next big fish that could go or stay.
San Jose Sharks
Rumour: Elliote Friedman discusses the future of Marc-Edouard Vlasic in San Jose
The next NHL Rumours concerns another defenceman in the Pacific Division. All good things must come to an end and that’s been the case in San Jose. Over the past few seasons, the core makeup of the team has drastically changed. Long time forwards Patrick Marleau and Joe Thornton have retired. Joe Pavelski is aging like a fine wine in Dallas and Brent Burns and Erik Karlsson have both been traded to other teams. The next defenceman on the chopping block is Vlasic.
San Jose has scratched him and he’s sitting in the press box. They’ve opted to give those minutes to younger guys as the next wave of Sharks hockey goes on. All signs point to the Sharks looking to move on from the veteran defender.
Vlasic was always a good player. He was never known for his offensive production like you see with a lot of players today but he was steady in his own end. He would be worth acquiring but there is a problem with that.
Vlasic is owed $7 million this season and two more after that. In addition, there are also bonuses involved. It is a steep price to pay for a player that’s been on a steady decline. It begs the question, what are you getting with him and is it anything remotely close to what he once was?
A change of scenery can always boost a players morale and provide a new vote of confidence. Salary retention would have to happen to make a deal work. The dominos began to fall with the departures of Timo Meier and Karlsson but Mike Grier is far from done with this rebuild.
Main Photo: Sergei Belski-USA TODAY Sports
