The latest on Patrick Kane, the Oilers’ goaltending, and the Wild in today’s NHL Rumor Mill.
PANTHERS, RED WINGS, SABRES COULD BE FRONT-RUNNERS FOR KANE
TSN: Darren Dreger reports Patrick Kane is getting very close to deciding on which NHL team he’ll join this season. The 35-year-old free-agent winger is reportedly mulling over multiple options.
As many as eight clubs were initially involved as Kane and his agent Pat Brisson were involved in several face-to-face interviews, including a Zoom call with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Brisson is expected to circle back to clubs to tell them they’re out, though that hasn’t happened yet.
It was expected that Kane might reach a decision this week. With American Thanksgiving coming up, it might take place by next week.
NHL NETWORK (via NHL WATCHER): Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman believes the Florida Panthers, Detroit Red Wings and Buffalo Sabres are the leading candidates for Kane’s services. He claimed he keep hearing about Eastern clubs linked to Kane as there may be a concern about travel in the Western Conference.
DAILY FACEOFF: Frank Seravalli said he’s spoken to teams that are wondering if the Panthers might be the front-runner for Kane. They could be the best option for him to win a fourth Stanley Cup this season, especially with defensemen Aaron Ekblad and Brandon Montour returning from injury. Seravalli speculates they could be a multi-year destination for Kane if they can free up cap space down the line.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: It’s been reported that Panthers general manager Bill Zito has aggressively pursued Kane since the summer. They currently have around 630K in cap space so someone will have to be traded or demoted to free up a roster spot and cap room for him.
LATEST ON THE OILERS GOALTENDING WOES
SPORTSNET (via NHL WATCHER): Appearing on the latest episode of The Jeff Marek Show, Elliotte Friedman said the Edmonton Oilers could make a really bad trade for a goaltender if they wanted to. However, they don’t want to do that as they’re trying to keep an eye on the big picture at some level.
Friedman believed someone like the Anaheim Ducks’ John Gibson could make a difference for the Oilers. However, he’s not going to fix everything that ails the club.
TSN: Pierre LeBrun reports the representatives for free-agent goaltender Jaroslav Halak have spoken with the Oilers. The 38-year-old is back in Boston contemplating his next move after being released from his PTO contract by the Carolina Hurricanes. LeBrun believes the reason Halak was released was due to his unwillingness to have a conditioning stint in the AHL.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Oilers are backed into a corner with their goaltending and everyone knows it. They would have to overpay to bring in an experienced netminder who might not have much success between the pipes given the Oilers’ sloppy defensive game.
Signing a free agent like Halak would be a more affordable option. However, there’s no guarantee of improvement given his age and the fact he hasn’t played since April.
LATEST ON THE WILD
TSN: Chris Johnston reports Minnesota Wild head coach Dean Evason is not in any imminent danger of losing his job despite his club’s sputtering start to this season. He believes that’s mainly because the best fix is for the Wild’s best players to pull them through this difficult stretch.
Johnston cited the low production thus far from Wild stars like Kirill Kaprizov, Matt Boldy and Marcus Foligno. He believes the heated meeting that general manager Bill Guerin had with the players last week was to send the message that it’s up to them to get themselves out of this situation.
THE ATHLETIC: Michael Russo and Joe Smith believe Guerin may have robbed himself of potentially valuable trade-deadline chips by re-signing Foligno, Ryan Hartman, and Mats Zuccarello to multi-year contract extensions.
If the Wild fail to improve, Guerin will have little or no flexibility near the trade deadline. They won’t have many players on expiring contracts to flog for draft picks and prospects.