NHL Rumors: Arizona Coyotes, Columbus Blue Jackets, Anaheim Ducks

Welcome to another edition of Full Press Hockey’s NHL Rumors! The NHL 2022-23 regular season games have begun and players will be evaluated. Now, with free agency moves mostly done, rumors are still around. Clubs are always working to improve their rosters for next season. Some teams are having difficulty creating enough cap space to make moves. Others are experiencing severe injuries to star players. Trade rumors/signings are still prevalent. In this Sunday edition of NHL Rumors, we will take a look at the Arizona Coyotes, Columbus Blue Jackets, and the Anaheim Ducks.

Arizona Coyotes – Nick Ritchie

Rumor – Per – Shane Seney – nhltraderumors.me. The St. Louis Blues are a mess, could adding Nick Ritchie help things?

Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman mentioned that perhaps the Blues could use someone like Ritchie, a player “with bite.” Ritchie has certainly impressed ever since the Yotes acquired him in February. The Toronto Maple Leafs traded him along with a 2nd round draft pick in 2025. The pick was conditional to the Arizona Coyotes for Ryan Dzingel and Ilya Lyubushkin. Dzingel was waived three days after the trade and picked up by the San Jose Sharks where he played six games with one goal. He then signed as a free agent with the Carolina Hurricanes this July. He’s currently playing in the AHL. Lyubushkin signed with the Buffalo Sabres this July.

Ritchie has been a huge success with Arizona. During the 2021-22 season, he collected 10 goals and four assists in 24 games, or a 0.58 points-per-games ratio. This season he is again on fire with six goals and two assists in 13 games. That’s the kind of stats that the Blues can look at and determine if there’s a way to add him to their roster. Don’t forget, Ritchie is 6-foot-2, 230 pounds, and is excellent in the slot. Moving him out is not an easy task.

At this point, GM Doug Armstrong of the St. Louis club is being patient, but just one look at the standings shows his team is in the depths of going south quickly. A player like Ritchie would certainly help the cause. He will be an unrestricted free agent after this season and has a $2.5 million contract with no trade protection. The Coyotes are looking to move players for prospects and draft picks, so they may be motivated to trade Ritchie.

Columbus Blue Jackets – Zach Werenski

Rumor: Per – Michael DeRosa – nhltraderumors.me. Columbus Blue Jackets star done for the year. Zach Werenski will miss the rest of the season due to a separated shoulder and torn labrum.

It was thought that adding a star quality player like Johnny Gaudreau would solve the Jackets’ issues going forward. The team is currently 4-9 and then they just discovered that Werenski will be lost for the rest of the season. He had been playing well with three goals and five assists in 13 games.

The only good thing about this is that Werenski’s $9.583 million salary can go under long-term injured reserve status for this season. The team had just $1.7 million in cap space before his injury, So, the question becomes who will GM Jarmo Kekäläinen go after to replace Werenski? A favorite option could be one of two defensemn on the Coyotes. Jakob Chychrun had been in NHL rumors ticketed to be going to Columbus over the summer, but that never happened. Shayne Gostisbehere has also been mentioned to be traded soon since he is a UFA after this season. He commands a $4.5 million contract and has many of Chychrun’s capabilities.

Kekäläinen will need to decide how to proceed with one of his top defensemen out all season. If the Blue Jackets intend to make a go of it this season, they will need someone in Werenski’s spot and soon.

Anaheim Ducks – 3 players likely on the move

Rumor: Per – Shane Seney – nhltraderumors.me. The Ducks are not going to be a playoff team, and are expected to move some players by the deadline.

• John Klingberg: Teams expected to have interest in Klingberg include the Toronto Maple Leafs, Florida Panthers, and Seattle Kraken. He has recorded seven assists in 14 games and is a workhorse collected almost 24 minutes of ice time per game. His $7 million contract will take some retention by the Ducks, but they seem fine with that as long as they can get a prospect or draft picks for his services.
• Anthony Stolarz: He has a very reasonable contract at $950,000. This season’s stats are not that impressive with a 2-1 record and a .901 save percentage. His inflated 3.90 goals-against-average will not impress many, although last season he did have a 12-8-3 record with a .917 SV%, and a 2.67 GAA. The Ducks are not going anywhere, so getting what they can for Stolarz is the objective. The Edmonton Oilers, Vegas Golden Knights and Buffalo Sabres could all have some interest.
• Kevin Shattenkirk: He is in the last year of his $3.9 million cap hit and the 33-year-old blueliner can be great at quarterbacking the power play. He’s averaging about 17 minutes of ice time a game and has collected five assists in 14 games. He holds a 12-team no-trade clause and more than likely the Ducks would need to retain some salary to make a deal work. They have the third most cap space of any NHL team with just over $16 million available.

That concludes this edition of NHL rumors. Be sure to watch for our next article, and as always thank you for reading!