NHL Weekly Roundup: Rumours, Draft Lottery & More
By Aly Dhanani
NHL Weekly Roundup: Offseason Rumours, Draft Lottery, FA Drake Caggiula, Milan Lucic & More
Check out the NHL Weekly Roundup every Sunday for the latest rumours and news from around the hockey world.
In this weeks edition, we discuss big rumours regarding this offseason, the draft lottery results, an update on College Free Agent Drake Caggiula, & More.
On This Years Offseason…
This week there have been many rumours floating around about potential moves made this offseason. According to Sportsnet, KHL superstar Alex Radulov has confirmed his intentions to return to the NHL. According to Ansar Khan of MLive, the Detroit Red Wings are one of the many pursuers of Radulov and have already talked with his Agent.
There has been no contract offer yet, but there may be one soon. A pitch to lure Pavel Datsyuk to Detroit for one more season or just for scoring depth? We’ll see. Khan also confirmed Red Wings winger Joakim Andersson has signed a 2 year deal with SHL club Orebro.
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Speaking of the KHL, reporter Jeff Veillette tweeted the news that Boston Bruins top prospect Alexander Khokhlachev is likely going to sign with the club SKA St. Petesburg (team of Ilya Kovalchuk) in the summer.
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The Bruins will still hold his rights, but for now it seems ‘Koko’ will not be playing for the Bruins (Or in the NHL?) again.
In 2015-16 the 22-year-old was among the leaders in AHL scoring and finished with 24 goals and 68 points in 60 games. However, in 5 games with the big club Khokhlachev failed to register a point.
He was picked 40th overall in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft by Boston, and his impending departure starts up a new debate: will the Russian factor ever leave the NHL?
On The NHL Draft Lottery…
Saturday, the top 14 picks in the NHL Draft were determined, with the Toronto Maple Leafs (who had a league high 20 percent chance at number 1) winning the lottery, the Winnipeg Jets jumping from 6th to 2nd and the Vancouver Canucks (who had the 3rd best chance at getting no.1) drops to 5th, putting the Columbus Blue Jackets in the top 3.
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Damien Cox reported that night that the top 3 (Toronto, Winnipeg, Columbus) were unlikely to move their picks, but the Edmonton Oilers, who have the 4th overall pick, are in fact already shopping the pick. It’s likely that the return will be a young, quality defender.
Does this not make perfect sense for the Anahiem Ducks? Whether it be Sami Vatanen, Cam Fowler, or Hampus Lindholm going the other way, with the 4th overall pick GM Bob Murray can get himself a nice piece upfront in Pierre Luc-Dubois or Matthew Tkachuk.
An Update On NCAA Free Agent Drake Caggiula…
It appears the Vancouver Canucks are courting NCAA Playoff MVP and highly sought Free Agent Drake Caggiula. On Friday Caggiula flew to Vancouver to meet with Canucks management and he as well as his agent were seen dining with GM Jim Benning and Canucks VP of Player Operations Trevor Linden, as well as the owner of the Canucks Francesco Aquilini.
The 21 year has not officially signed in Vancouver yet but it is becoming more and more likely each passing day.
Caggulia had a breakout year with NCAA champions North Dakota, potting 51 points in 39 games and scoring 5 goals in 4 Final Four matches to end the season.
More leverage for the Canucks to sign him is that last month they inked teammate and fellow free agent defender Troy Stecher to an Entry Level Deal.
The Leftovers: Lucic, Kings Closing In On Contract Extension, Panthers Busy In Contract Talks.
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According to TFP, all signs point to the Los Angeles Kings and Milan Lucic agreeing on a contract extension this summer. With Vincent Lecavalier retiring, the Kings will have roughly $8.5 million dollars in cap space, which is more than enough to sign Lucic. As for the player side of the deal, Lucic told reporters he has no intentions to leave LA.
"“To be honest I really don’t have much interest into hitting the open market or hearing what’s out there because in my mind this is where I want to be,” Lucic told reporters on Sunday. “Why flirt with something when you know what you want. That’s the case for me moving forward.”I think (we’re) in the same area code I would say,” Lucic said. “Just a little bit more work to do to bridge the gap here and like I said, it’s something that I definitely want moving forward, which I think is definitely important and I think it’s something they want too so hopefully we can make it work out here.”"
Lucic had a salary of $6 million dollars last year, and it’s reported GM Dean Lombardi wants to give Lucic a pact in the area of 8 years/$40M ($5M AAV).
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Lastly, two veterans on the Florida Panthers look like they will return for 2016-17. Jaromir Jagr, the 44-year-old freak of nature, yet again wants to return for another season and both him and GM Dave Tallon sound optimistic a deal will get done.
Meanwhile, veteran defender Brian Campbell, 36. has also expressed interest in returning to Florida. He is on the last year of a 8 year, $57.1M deal and is going to take a massive pay-cut in his next deal
Stay tuned for next week’s NHL weekly roundup!