Dan’s Daily: NHL Trade Market Warms Up, Penguins Seven-Year Itch

Goalies make all of the difference. That was on display in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final as Tampa Bay Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy was very good, and Colorado Avalanche tendy Darcy Kuemper was not in the Lightning blowout win. The Edmonton Oilers are goalie shopping on the NHL trade market, while the Buffalo Sabres will search for a keeper via free agency and could put a scoring winger on the NHL trade block. The Montreal Canadiens are the epicenter of the trade rumors. And we looked at the Pittsburgh Penguins’ near embarrassing record of futility at the NHL draft.

I’m unsure how to describe all of the chatter and NHL trade “rumors” around Montreal. As the boss at National Hockey Now, I know the sources of the stories, and I’m surprised Kent Hughes doesn’t have a cauliflower ear from being on the phone.

NHL Trade Chatter, Rumors, and Reports

The amount of trade chatter we sifted through today… whew. I do want to give our Jimmy Murphy in BOS/MTL some props. He was a day ahead of the national folks when he reported on Sunday night that the hottest Jeff Petry suitors were the Dallas Stars and Detroit Red Wings.

Montreal Hockey Now: However, see if you read Kent Hughes’ comments on Petry in the same “indirectly mentioning the Penguins” way that I did. Montreal Canadiens trade chatter.

Buffalo News: Lance Lysowski doesn’t think the big-name free agent goalies will be very interested in Buffalo, so a trade is most likely. The Sabres could also put Fredrik Olofsson on the block. He played very well against the Penguins in the COVID-shortened season. Overall, Buffalo needs a goalie.

Vancouver Hockey Now: The New Jersey Devils are an interesting bunch. They have talent, but it hasn’t translated to wins. Fans in Vancouver are wondering if talks between Vancouver and New Jersey could include P.K. Subban? Rob Simpson goes through the potentials for the Vancouver Canucks.

Pittsburgh Penguins:

Pittsburgh Hockey Now: It’s shocking, if not a bit embarrassing. It has been seven years since the Penguins drafted an NHL regular. Yep, in 2015 the Penguins selected…Dominik Simon. The Penguins have whiffed in every draft since. That’s costing them a lot of salary cap space, too. Pittsburgh Penguins draft-day woes.

Stanley Cup Final, NHL News & National Hockey Now:

NHL.com: Here’s the game story for Game 3. The Tampa Bay Lightning steamrolled Colorado, which again got some shoddy goaltending.

Colorado: From Tampa Bay, Terry Frei writers–you didn’t think it would be easy, did you? It won’t be a sweep for the Colorado Avalanche.

Boston: There’s some intrigue around GM Don Sweeney. He was supposed to have a new contract by now. Why hasn’t it happened? Boston Bruins news.

Washington: The Capitals knocked a small item off their to-do list, but if you think the Penguins have some work to do in the next three weeks, look at the Washington Capitals free agent list.

San Jose: Could San Jose hire a GM from abroad? That’s the latest scuttle as the Sharks GM search has turned up some interesting names. They’re talking to everyone. San Jose Sharks news.