NHL Rumors: Vegas Golden Knights, Detroit Red Wings, Ottawa Senators

Welcome to another edition of Full Press Hockey’s NHL Rumors! The NHL preseason 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. The new 2022-23 season began on October 7th, and trade rumors/signings are still prevalent. In this Wednesday’s edition of NHL Rumors, we will take a look at the Vegas Golden Knights, Detroit Red Wings, and the Ottawa Senators. These will be bold predictions as formulated by Frank Seravalli of dailyfaceoff.com.

Vegas Golden Knights – Kelly McCrimmon

Rumor: Per – Frank Seravalli – dailyfaceoff.com. Golden Knights GM Kelly McCrimmon will be the first GM fired this season.

If for nothing else, McCrimmon’s mishandling of salary cap issues may be the reason owner Bill Foley fires him. He had to unload two excellent players Marc-Andre Fleury and Max Pacioretty. Then, the team missing the playoffs for the first time in their short five-year existence really hurt. Vegas usually goes big as when they traded for star forward Jack Eichel. At the time, his back injury was very controversial but McCrimmon still did the trade. He gave up Peyton Krebs and Alex Tuch in the trade. Tuch responded well in Buffalo with 12 goals and 26 assists in 50 games. Krebs is only 21 years old and has a bright future.

What McCrimmon needs to hope for is that Eichel will continue his good offensive play when he added 14 goals, and 11 assists in 34 games last season. If the Golden Knights miss the playoffs again, it’s almost a sure bet that McCrimmon will be looking for work. Foley is not an easy man to work for, and he expects results. If McCrimmon can’t respond, Foley won’t wait. After all, that $500 million expansion fee that he paid needs to show some residuals.

Detroit Red Wings – Dylan Larkin

Rumor: Per – Frank Seravalli – dailyfaceoff.com. Detroit Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin will be traded before the March 3 trade deadline.

Larkin’s salary cap hit is $6.1 million, and everyone knows he deserves more. His Red Wings career totals show 504 games, with 147 goals, and 211 assists. This past season he hit totals of 31 goals, and 38 assists in 71 games. Larkin’s projected salary hit of $8-$8.5 million may be too rich for the Wings GM Steve Yzerman. They will have $41.3 million in cap space for the 2023-24 season, but also have nine other unrestricted free agents besides Larkin and three restricted free agents.

The trend of late for free agents to be signed to lucrative deals has been displayed frequently. Mathew Barzal $9.15M. Jason Robertson $7.75M. Mackenzie Weegar $6.25M. Nathan MacKinnon $12.6M. Tim Stutzle $8.35M. Jonathan Huberdeau $10.5M. Matthew Tkachuk $9.5M. Whether Larkin will be added to this list or traded is yet to be determined. Many factors can be involved as the trade deadline approaches. Don’t forget, Larkin has a no-trade clause in his contract and will decide his own fate.

Ottawa Senators – Jakob Chychrun

Rumor: Per – Frank Seravalli – dailyfaceoff.com. The Ottawa Senators will trade for Jakob Chychrun before the New Year.

According to Seravalli, the Senators have shown the most interest in acquiring Chychrun. The Los Angeles Kings are also interested. The Arizona Coyotes have decreased their return expectations to a first-round pick, and either a promising prospect or an NHL player. That may help get a deal done because Chychrun has made it perfectly clear that he wants out of the desert. For once this elongated NHL rumor may come to an end.

Chychrun is still injured and hasn’t played in a preseason contest, for which the Coyotes have not registered a win, as of yet. It’s obvious that the Coyotes want to accommodate the Boca Raton, Florida native. But until an offer is presented that fits the Arizona club’s needs, nothing will happen. At some point, something will happen, and it may take until this year’s end to get it done.

No doubt that the Sens will be a better team with Chychrun on their blueline. Things will progress if he can get healthy and display the attraction to trading him. Right now, it’s the waiting game as both GMs get to work and resolve the issues preventing a deal from being made.

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