{"id":660308,"date":"2026-05-09T18:24:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T18:24:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/660308\/"},"modified":"2026-05-09T18:24:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T18:24:09","slug":"tkachuk-rangers-thomas-back-to-backs-advertising-pro-hockey-rumors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/660308\/","title":{"rendered":"Tkachuk, Rangers, Thomas, Back-To-Backs, Advertising \u2013 Pro Hockey Rumors"},"content":{"rendered":"

Topics in this edition of the PHR Mailbag include what a successful offseason for the Rangers could be, the impact of back-to-backs, and more.\u00a0 If your question doesn\u2019t appear here, check back in our last two mailbag<\/a> columns<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Bill Blueshirt: The NYR has a long-standing interest in getting B. Tkachuk. Would a package of Cuylle, Schneider, their 1st rounder (#3 overall), and either Trocheck or Laba get it done?<\/p>\n

When I first started reading the question, I thought \u2018this is going to be a no\u2019, especially with it being a package.\u00a0 But I have to say, I think this would get it done on Ottawa\u2019s part, even if they have no interest in moving Brady Tkachuk<\/a>.\u00a0 And this would assume that Vincent Trocheck<\/a> wouldn\u2019t have the Sens on his no-trade list; given that it seems as if he\u2019s blocked trades to Western teams, there\u2019s a chance of that happening.<\/p>\n

Tkachuk has given no indication that he wouldn\u2019t re-sign with the Senators, although that hasn\u2019t stopped the speculation that he might do like his brother and give early notice that he won\u2019t re-sign.\u00a0 In that scenario, Ottawa would probably want a return that gets them some future help but also allows them to stay competitive now.\u00a0 This would do that.<\/p>\n

Trocheck, Tim Stutzle<\/a>, Dylan Cozens<\/a>, Shane Pinto<\/a>, and Ridly Greig<\/a> would be a solid center group and plausibly could allow Ottawa to move one to fill another hole.\u00a0 William Cuylle<\/a> could be a second-line power forward; he\u2019s pretty much close to being one already.\u00a0 Braden Schneider<\/a> would help shore up the weak side of their back end.\u00a0 And the fifth pick (after the lottery didn\u2019t go New York\u2019s way) would net them a strong future piece as well.\u00a0 So, I think they\u2019d do this.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not sure it\u2019s in New York\u2019s best interest, however.\u00a0 Are they a better team after this swap?\u00a0 Yes, Tkachuk is the best player in it but the supporting cast takes a big hit and they lose most of their best trade chips.\u00a0 Less depth, fewer trade options, and they\u2019re two years away from a very expensive contract to keep him in the fold.\u00a0 If the Rangers were one player away and had the depth of a few years ago, this would be defensible.\u00a0 Given that they\u2019re in a spot where they\u2019re looking to do at least some sort of rebuild though, this isn\u2019t the right time to go in big on a player.<\/p>\n

lgr34561: What do you think an ideal offseason looks like for the Rangers and what are your expectations for them next season?<\/p>\n

I have my doubts that the Rangers will do a full-blown rebuild so a successful offseason for them, in my books, would simply be sticking to the path they\u2019re on.<\/p>\n

For Trocheck, I think they have to move him this summer.\u00a0 He\u2019s going to be one of the top centers available, if not the best one (if you think Robert Thomas<\/a> won\u2019t be in play anymore).\u00a0 The demand is extremely high with a lot of teams looking to buy.\u00a0 Coming out of a Trocheck trade with at least two high-end futures pieces (a good first-round pick or prospect and a top-six prospect or potential impact blueliner) would be big as that could fill two of the foundational holes down the road.\u00a0 The trade wouldn\u2019t be two-for-one as money dictates there would probably be other pieces but those would be the core of the return.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think they want to move J.T. Miller<\/a> so quickly and Mika Zibanejad<\/a> doesn\u2019t want to move so they\u2019d still be in solid shape down the middle.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m skeptical that Alexis Lafreniere<\/a> has another gear to get to.\u00a0 He might be someone who just sits in that 50-60-point range and while that\u2019s solid, I\u2019d like to see Chris Drury explore options on that front.\u00a0 This wouldn\u2019t be a straight seller move but rather more of a one-for-one move with a similarly-aged player with lots of club control (or a long-term deal) doing the other way.\u00a0 Basically, a swap to try to find someone who better fits Mike Sullivan<\/a>\u2019s system as I don\u2019t see a coaching change happening again anytime soon, not with his contract.<\/p>\n

Ideally, I\u2019d say sign Schneider long-term and trade Will Borgen<\/a> but Borgen\u2019s contract might make it tough.\u00a0 One of those two will be a bottom-pairing piece and the price tag doesn\u2019t fit the role so if Borgen getting dealt for value isn\u2019t an option, then I\u2019d say move Schneider and capitalize on the demand for right-shot defensemen.\u00a0 The return wouldn\u2019t be as significant as Trocheck\u2019s but I could see them landing one A-level asset.<\/p>\n

Beyond that, if they can move a lower-end veteran (guys like Taylor Raddysh<\/a>, Urho Vaakanainen<\/a>, and the like) and open up more of a full-time slot for some of their near-ready prospects, that would be worth doing as well.\u00a0 That\u2019s a lot of selling for a team that I think isn\u2019t necessarily quite that committed to moving out pieces but doing that would be a good summer in my books.<\/p>\n

Red Wings: Wings need help. Robert Thomas could be the 1C and Larkin could slide down to 2C. What would it take to get him out of St. Louis?<\/p>\n

Now that we\u2019ve covered Trocheck, let\u2019s look at the other prominent center who is no stranger to the rumor mill.\u00a0 Adding Thomas would certainly help fill the top-six middleman slot that they\u2019ve tried several times to fill and he and Dylan Larkin<\/a> would be a solid one-two punch.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>However, the asking price before the trade deadline was believed to be the equivalent of at least three top-15 assets.\u00a0 One theoretically could have been Detroit\u2019s first-round pick but St. Louis already has that from the Justin Faulk<\/a> trade.\u00a0 With it being too early to know where their 2027 pick could plausibly fall, I don\u2019t think that could fill one of those slots, meaning we\u2019re looking at three already-drafted pieces.<\/p>\n

The Red Wings have several youngsters who technically fit the bill but some of those players have seen their stock drop as well.\u00a0 For example, Marco Kasper<\/a> was an eighth-overall pick but he doesn\u2019t carry that high a value now.\u00a0 That said, I could see him being one of the pieces.\u00a0 (If not him, then Nate Danielson<\/a> makes sense.)\u00a0 For a winger, one of Michael Brandsegg-Nygard<\/a> or 2025 first-round pick Carter Bear<\/a> would fit the bill.\u00a0 Does St. Louis want more of a playmaker or a scorer and are they looking for someone close to ready now or a few years away?\u00a0 The answer to that dictates which one of those two would be in the offer.\u00a0 I don\u2019t see the Blues having a ton of interest in Axel Sandin Pellikka<\/a> so the other spot would either need to be one of the forwards already listed or goaltender Sebastian Cossa<\/a>.\u00a0 (I\u2019m not sure Trey Augustine<\/a> carries top-15 value league-wide, as good a prospect as he is.)\u00a0 Cossa and Joel Hofer<\/a> would be an interesting tandem for the near and long-term future with some upside.<\/p>\n

On top of that, Detroit would probably need to offset the money somewhat.\u00a0 The good news is that there are some logical choices in J.T. Compher<\/a> and Andrew Copp<\/a>, veterans whose spots may be displaced by Thomas coming in anyway.<\/p>\n

There are three questions I still have coming out of all of that.\u00a0 If I\u2019m Alex Steen, I\u2019m not sure that\u2019d be enough for me as, again, some of the shine has come off some of these high-drafted pieces.\u00a0 The second is on Detroit\u2019s end and it\u2019s similar to the Tkachuk thing earlier, is this the right move for a team that keeps missing the playoffs to make?\u00a0 (I can come around to yes here, however, unlike the Tkachuk scenario.)\u00a0 The third is the biggest one: Would Thomas waive for the Red Wings?\u00a0 There\u2019s a sense that GM Steve Yzerman has tried to swing big but has either had players tell them they\u2019re not interested in going there or aren\u2019t willing to sign long term.\u00a0 They only have to worry about the former here with Thomas signed through 2030-31 but there may be more appealing suitors for his services.<\/p>\n

Duke II: While it may be common sense, is there any empirical data that confirms NHL players\u2019 stats are worse in the second game of B-2-B games?<\/p>\n

I\u2019m going to try to answer this primarily from a team-based perspective.\u00a0 Statistically speaking, teams have a lower points percentage on back-to-backs so, therefore, it can also be gleaned that individual player stats aren\u2019t quite as good as otherwise, there wouldn\u2019t be a gap in points percentage.\u00a0 But the gap isn\u2019t always as big as some might think.\u00a0 Here are the numbers, courtesy of More Hockey Stats<\/a> (they have the team records, I\u2019ve converted them to average points per game):<\/p>\n

2025-26: Overall Average Points Per Game: 1.12
Points Per Game In Back Half Of Back-To-Back: 1.07<\/p>\n

2024-25: Overall Average Points Per Game: 1.10
Points Per Game In Back Half Of Back-To-Back: 0.93<\/p>\n

2023-24: Overall Average Points Per Game: 1.10
Points Per Game In Back Half Of Back-To-Back: 1.03<\/p>\n

2022-23: Overall Average Points Per Game: 1.12
Points Per Game In Back Half Of Back-To-Back: 0.99<\/p>\n

Now, you asked for the players.\u00a0 That\u2019s a little harder to track down on an everything-in-one-place level but ESPN\u2019s player profiles have this snuck in near the bottom.\u00a0 For example, here\u2019s the profile<\/a> for Minnesota\u2019s Matt Boldy<\/a>.\u00a0 He had 10 points in the second half of 12 back-to-backs this season, a 0.83 point-per-game average compared to 1.12 points per game for the full season.\u00a0 In 2024-25, he had a 0.33 point-per-game average in the second half of back-to-backs against a 0.89 full-season average.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t as pronounced in 2023-24 at a .786 point-per-game average in the back half of a back-to-back against a 0.92 mark for the season.<\/p>\n

This is just one example but I suspect, given the reduced teams\u2019 success in the back half of a back-to-back, that more players will follow Boldy and have a reduced output in those situations.\u00a0 If there are certain players you\u2019re intrigued about specifically, the ESPN profiles can give you the breakdown you\u2019re looking for.<\/p>\n

Jolly Roger: Is there anything in the CBA regulating advertising on players\u2019 helmets? Does every team make their own deal for such advertising? Do players receive a cut and can they opt out, for example if they disagree with the advertiser policies, or just don\u2019t want to be a skating billboard?<\/p>\n

Advertising isn\u2019t a CBA element beyond that advertising revenue is part of Hockey Related Revenue, or HRR.\u00a0 HRR is what helps shape the salary cap with the players and owners getting 50% chunks of that revenue.\u00a0 That\u2019s the players\u2019 cut of it, so to speak.\u00a0 They are not able to opt out, nor can they solicit their own deal to stick a patch on a jersey or helmet.<\/p>\n

Every team can make their own agreements for the advertising.\u00a0 Some have had sponsor changes already within the first few years.\u00a0 All 32 teams have at least one helmet agreement in place while many have separate agreements for home and away.\u00a0 Only 28 teams have jersey sponsorships for this season (soon to be 29 with the Sabres announcing Friday that they have a deal in place for next year) while, again, some have home and away sponsors as well.<\/p>\n

Photo courtesy of Jeff Curry-Imagn Images.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Topics in this edition of the PHR Mailbag include what a successful offseason for the Rangers could be,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":660309,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[64,63,575,11476,11477,85],"class_list":["post-660308","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nhl","tag-phr-mailbag","tag-pro-hockey-rumors-originals","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660308","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=660308"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660308\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/660309"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=660308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=660308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=660308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}