NHL Rumors: Pittsburgh Penguins, Ottawa Senators, Seattle Kraken

Adam Crowley of 93.7 The Fan in Pittsburgh calls it “unacceptable”.

“You’re repeating a lot of the same mistakes… The things they were bad at last year, in some cases they got even worse at this year. That’s all on the head coach”. 

“Mike Sullivan, you gots to go!… I think you got to move on. In fact, I know you have to move on… We have reached the expiration date on Mike Sullivan.” 

That’s some stark criticism with facts to back it up. There must be a way to improve the Pens’ performance. Good luck finding a better coach than Sullivan. His record in Pittsburgh stands at 375 wins, 219 losses, and 77 overtime losses. That is a points percentage of .616. However, when researching his playoff record things could be better. He has only 44 wins and 38 losses for a less-than-admirable .537 winning percentage.

Ottawa Senators – Linus Ullmark

Rumor: Per – Bruce Garrioch – OttawaSun.com. Owner Michael Andlauer — didn’t buy the Senators for $950 million U.S. to finish outside of the playoffs, and he’ll be working with GM Staios during this off-season to try to make the proper changes that will get his club back to the postseason.

Finding a new head coach to replace interim Jacques Martin remains a priority. Their goalie situation needs some thought as well. According to Garrioch, “The (Ottawa) Senators kicked tires on Boston’s Linus Ullmark at the deadline and the expectation is the club will circle back.”  Goaltender Joonas Korpisalo who was signed to a five-year, $20-million deal last July 1, has been the club’s biggest disappointment. Anton Forsberg struggled and with just one year remaining on his contract, in all likelihood, he will be moved this summer.

Other issues include what they do with Jakob Chychrun. With the defenseman a year away from free agency, the trade rumors will again resurface. He possesses an attractive $4.6 million contract, which will get the attention of teams needing to improve their blueline. Although he gathered 41 points with 14 goals, his defensive game was not great. He wound up being poor defensively, with a +/- stat of -30. Of course, as was the case in Arizona, he wasn’t on a very competitive team this year.

Ullmark’s numbers are impressive and he no doubt would help the Sens move forward. He has a career record of 138-73-25, with a .918 SV%, and a 2.51 GAA. Let’s see what happens here.

Seattle Kraken – Five trade candidates

Rumor: Per – Geoff Baker/Kate Shefte – seattletimes.com. The Seattle Kraken came back down to earth this season, settling for a mere 79 points and finishing close to 20 points back of a postseason berth.

“They can’t leave anything off the table,” says Baker. He then goes on to name five players that could be used as enticing trade bait to bring in a real difference-maker up front:

• Vince Dunn (the headliner in any deal)
• William Borgen
• Adam Larsson
• Joey Daccord
• Shane Wright

Shefte was quoted as saying, “to pony up for some scoring punch.” She calls Dunn untouchable, along with Jared McCann. She also doesn’t see Wright going anywhere but then throws out the name of sensational junior prospect Jagger Firkus as a potential deal headliner: He went wild with the Moose Jaw Warriors this season in the WHL, scoring 61 goals in 63 games with 126 points. They may not want to give up on Wright just yet… he really played well after a late-season call-up (4-G, 1-A) in eight games.

It sounds like the Kraken really enjoyed being in the playoffs last season and want to see what they can do to replicate that performance next season. As always, you must give up something to get something. It is quite doubtful that they will part with Dunn. He signed a four-year $29.4 million contract last summer. The lack of offensive firepower was evident this season for the Kraken. They only averaged 2.61 goals a game as compared to 3.07 last season.

With over $22 million in cap space next season, you know that GM Ron Francis will be working the phones this summer to find some help. WIth sharpshooters like Steven Stamkos, Jake Guentzel, and Sam Reinhart available, that’s a good start.

That concludes this edition of NHL rumors. Be sure to catch our next article, and thanks for reading!