Kevin Allen: Fifteen NHL moves that should be made this season offseason Penguins, Oilers and Hurricanes should look for a goalie

I like a lot of these. But Holland would have to give up quite a bit I think to ditch the Neal contract.

It cost the Rangers a 2nd round pick for Detroit to take 1 year of Marc Staal. It should cost the Oilers a 1st round pick for Detroit to take 2 years of James Neal.

Broberg or keep Neal.

8. Blue Jackets should call the Capitals about Evgeny Kuznetsov. The Blue Jackets need an offensive center and the Caps need to clear cap space. He has a modified no-trade clause. Maybe he would like to play in Columbus.

Somehow I doubt he will even accept to move to Columbus....with a M-NTC

13.Flyers should be aggressive in trying to acquire Seth Jones from Columbus. Imagine an Ivan Provorov-Seith Jones pairing.

Pretty much don't have to imagine anything if you watched him play with Werenski

"Johnson must be kept because he’s got a no-movement clause. He’s also very popular with the fan base."

If the Avs can get Johnson to move the NMC then I don't see a single Avs fan being upset. It has been 50/50 since the trade for Shattenkirk all those years ago in terms of popularity and the production has not been there for a few years now due to the injuries. On the other hand, I have not found one Avs fan who doesn't love Girard and Toews has shown his worth and more this year. If Johnson were a more physical defender I would be all aboard with trading one of the other two, even with the injury history and risk, because the Avs need a physical d-man more than anything. That being said, if Johnson and Graves are the unprotected d-men, I still see Graves being the Kraken pick. The wild card is if the Avs choose to protect J.T. Compher or Valeri Nichushkin in place of Kadri after the suspension this post-season. If the Avs lose to Vegas they very well may place the blame on Kadri's behavior and non-availability as a result, much as Toronto did. That may be attractive enough to the Kraken so take over one of the d-men.

When it comes to the Avs, Kevin Allen clearly doesn’t know his head from his ass.

As has been reported, Sakic and the Avs are operating under the impression that EJ is willing to waive his NMC for the ED because Seattle would be stupid to take a 33 injury-prone player experience post concussion syndrome who also carries a $6m caphit for a couple more years. I highly doubt Sakic would have this impression if they didn’t already have discussions about it with EJ.

Also, if EJ doesn’t waive then the next option is a buyout, in no way shape or form are the Avs keeping EJ, for the above reasons and who’s play has been on a decline, over Girard or Toews.

The final option would be going the 4-4-1 route...

Nice article Ek. This one seemed pretty well thought out. No major errors. Good job.

I disagree about Colorado. I think they will delay signing Landeskog and protect 5 d-men instead.

Also, I've suggested packing Bear + Neal for months now. Bear is young and on a nice contract. You add that asset and then just waive Neal. Bouchard is already better than Bear so the Oilers won't miss him. Take the Neal money and make a bid for guys like Hyman, Hoffman, Palmeiri, Tatar, etc...

Damn it, Ek! Why didn't you solve NJ's problems too? No we're gonna suck again next year.

Jets fire their entire coaching staff!!!!!!!
7 years of wasting elite offensive players and a Vezna goalie.

worst defensive systems in the game.

Fire Maurice now!!!!!!

4. Buffalo Sabres should shake up about half of their roster, just like Florida did last offseason. Identify your core players and then work around the edges of the roster to change it up.
Start by looking around the AHL for some guys who are hard to play against like Ryan Lomborg.

If the rumors are true, half the core players in Buffalo want to be traded. The two teams are nothing a like. Florida knew who their core was and had cap space to address their needs. Buffalo is looking at a real possibility of blowing up their core, and have 15 million tied up in 2 of possibly the most untradeable players in the league.

Somehow I doubt he will even accept to move to Columbus....with a M-NTC
- Alexzanki

They don’t carry Pepsi in Columbus?

13.Flyers should be aggressive in trying to acquire Seth Jones from Columbus. Imagine an Ivan Provorov-Seith Jones pairing.

Pretty much don't have to imagine anything if you watched him play with Werenski
- eichiefs9

You’ve confused Seth with Seith. Happens to the best of us.

You’ve confused Seth with Seith. Happens to the best of us.
- Feds91Stammer

I'd make a Sith Jones joke but I don't know anything about Star Wars

I'd make a Sith Jones joke but I don't know anything about Star Wars
- eichiefs9

Are the Sith overrated and do they always lose?

You know there's more teams that have work to do than the Pens, Rangers, and Oilers, right?

Very good points. My disagreements are medial at best.

Col should not ship our Girard or Toews. They are outshooting and outscoring everyone 2:1 and I feel no changes are ideal for this stacked unit. EJ will go the route of LTIR retirement if the numbers become too crunched.

Toccet would be the perfect coach for the Rags! But as a dev's fan I say heck-No. haha

Oilers have Bouchard/Bear/Broberg/Nurse/Russell/Klef already shaping our a relatively young unit. I'd have a hard time seeing them ink Larsson over Barrie.

EJ will waive his no trade, there is no way Sakic will trade Girard or Toews with those team friendly deals.

OMG with Erik Johnson. How many freaking articles at how many freaking sites are going to operate under the crazy assumption that he's not going to waive his NMC? Yes he's very popular with the team and very popular with about half the fan base (the other half think he's a vastly overpaid and highly injury prone). There's as close as possible to zero chance Seattle will pick a 33 year old guy making 6M a year who gets injured for significant stretches virtually every year. The Avs are not going to sign G for seven years at 5 million and trade him and they're not going to trade 2 2nd's for Toews and sign him for 4 years and trade him and they're not going to expose either one.

If worse comes to worse I'm practically certain they would rather buy Johnson out (2 years left at 6 so it would be 2 million over 4 years) if he doesn't waive. 2 million in dead cap isn't awesome but it would sure as heck beat out losing Toews or Girard. And I don't think Johnson would want to give up a third of the remaining value of his contract (4 million) at the tail end of his career so it's yet another reason why he would waive. If that's not enough, he's known to be very loyal to the team, both he and Landeskog went to Sakic in summer of 2017 and asked not to be traded so they could be "part of the solution." He considers Landeskog to practically be a brother and refers to Landy's daughter as his niece.

Is there such a huge need to fill space in an article that you would posture something so absurd as trading Toews or Girard rather than Johnson waiving or getting bought out?

Edited to add:

Does anyone really, truly, in any known or unknown universe believe Seattle would take Erik Johnson over Ryan Graves or Jacob MacDonald if they're looking to take a defenseman from the Avs? Don't get me wrong, I love Erik Johnson and he's still very effective when he's not injured and, though I like Graves, I also thought the Avs should have traded him last season when his stock was at his highest so I'm not overvaluing him either. Having said that, a young team would take Graves over Johnson (and his 6M cap hit) a thousand times out of a thousand. Would they also rather take a 33 year who costs 6M over Donskoi or Compher? I don't think so. They're going to ask Johnson to waive his NMC and he's going to feel extremely safe doing so.

Sorry for the rant the but this is about the tenth article over the last year that has postulated that the Avs would would somehow lose Toews one way or another in the expansion draft and it's just a crazy, bizarre, weird-ass totally outlandish notion. Joe Sakic doesn't trade 2 2nd's for a guy and sign him for 4 years just to turn around and lose him after one year.

Isles definitely need to move Varly to free up cap space. Sorokin is ready!

Isles definitely need to move Varly to free up cap space. Sorokin is ready!
- HolyDiver83

Not sure "definitely need to move Varly" is the way I'd word that.

OMG with Erik Johnson. How many freaking articles at how many freaking sites are going to operate under the crazy assumption that he's not going to waive his NMC? Yes he's very popular with the team and very popular with about half the fan base (the other half think he's a vastly overpaid and highly injury prone). There's as close as possible to zero chance Seattle will pick a 33 year old guy making 6M a year who gets injured for significant stretches virtually every year. The Avs are not going to sign G for seven years at 5 million and trade him and they're not going to trade 2 2nd's for Toews and sign him for 4 years and trade him and they're not going to expose either one.

If worse comes to worse I'm practically certain they would rather buy Johnson out (2 years left at 6 so it would be 2 million over 4 years) if he doesn't waive. 2 million in dead cap isn't awesome but it would sure as heck beat out losing Toews or Girard. And I don't think Johnson would want to give up a third of the remaining value of his contract (4 million) at the tail end of his career so it's yet another reason why he would waive. If that's not enough, he's known to be very loyal to the team, both he and Landeskog went to Sakic in summer of 2017 and asked not to be traded so they could be "part of the solution." He considers Landeskog to practically be a brother and refers to Landy's daughter as his niece.

Is there such a huge need to fill space in an article that you would posture something so absurd as trading Toews or Girard rather than Johnson waiving or getting bought out?
- FoppaForever

Finally. Someone else who gets it. And even if Johnson decided not to waive, they aren't going to expose Girard, Toews or Graves, nor would they give them away in a trade. They will just protect all of their d-men and expose a good forward like Burakovsky, Donskoii, Compher, etc...This is the main reason why Landeskog has delayed an extension. Just to give Sakic some flexibility. Non-story.

Great article??? Hardly.

1. No poop the oilers should look for a goalie under 39. A 5 year old sees that.
2. Pens are not moving Guentzel for muscle.
3. Lol. Good one. No one is taking Neal without a huge sweetener. No thanks. Expose him to Seattle and if they don’t take him buy him out.
4. Duh. Half their roster wants out anyway.
5. Again duh.
6. Once again…DUH.
7. Lol. The Avs are keeping both. EJ will waive his NMC and get exposed. Doubtful Seattle takes him.
8. Good luck with that!
9. Will possibly happen.
10. They’ll take a good player regardless.
11. Yes.
12. Lol. I hope they do. He’s a (frank)ing awful coach.
13. Jones isn’t worth what his next contract will be. I hope the Flyers give up a ton to get him.
14. Yes.
15. Nuge will only be re-signed if he’s reasonable. He’s a 2LW. Anymore than 5-5.5 and see ya. Larsson only on a deal in the 3.5 range. There is absolutely no way in hell the oilers have even a slight bit of interest in TDA. He’s a pos.

Isles definitely need to move Varly to free up cap space. Sorokin is ready!
- HolyDiver83

Agreed Varlamov for Nielsen.