{"id":11870,"date":"2025-07-21T02:15:08","date_gmt":"2025-07-21T02:15:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/11870\/"},"modified":"2025-07-21T02:15:08","modified_gmt":"2025-07-21T02:15:08","slug":"capitals-sharks-hamilton-tanking-bruins-maple-leafs-summer-winners-and-losers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/11870\/","title":{"rendered":"Capitals, Sharks, Hamilton, Tanking, Bruins, Maple Leafs, Summer Winners And Losers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Topics in this edition of the PHR Mailbag include assessing San Jose\u2019s busy last few weeks, early offseason winners and losers, and much more.\u00a0 If your question doesn\u2019t appear here, check back in last weekend\u2019s mailbag<\/a> while we have one more to run from our last callout for questions next weekend.<\/p>\n

letsgonats: The Capitals seemed to come in second place for the Ehlers sweepstakes. If McMichael moves to 3C, who is the 2nd line LW and 3rd line RW? It seems that the Caps trade a lot for Sourdif so he is given a 4th line winger slot. Do the Caps pull a trade we are not thinking about or do they take two from Beauvillier, Frank, Milano, Miroshnichenko, Cristall, Trineyev, or Lapierre and only a few have AHL options so waiver or trades for the others?<\/p>\n

Before I answer your scenario, I\u2019m going to throw another one out there.\u00a0 What if they flip McMichael and Pierre-Luc Dubois<\/a>, a player who has played on the wing before?\u00a0 I could see them giving that a shot at some point as well, keeping both players in the top six.\u00a0 In your McMichael as the third-line center scenario, I think Ryan Leonard<\/a> is on the right wing, allowing them to continue to ease him in.\u00a0 Right now, I think Anthony Beauvillier<\/a> gets the spot on the second line to start at least.\u00a0 In a perfect world, a youngster forces his way into that spot but better to be conservative in early forecasting.\u00a0 And I agree on Justin Sourdif<\/a>; at a minimum, he\u2019s on the fourth line with Nic Dowd<\/a> and Brandon Duhaime<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t see Ivan Miroshnichenko<\/a> or Bogdan Trineyev<\/a> realistically pushing for a roster spot.\u00a0 The former is waiver-exempt while the latter will need waivers.\u00a0 Hendrix Lapierre<\/a> makes it since he\u2019s waiver-eligible and won\u2019t get through without being claimed.\u00a0 I\u2019d have him as the 13th forward which isn\u2019t ideal development-wise.\u00a0 It wouldn\u2019t shock me if Sonny Milano<\/a> and Andrew Cristall<\/a> are battling for the 3LW spot.\u00a0 If Cristall is ready, Milano lands on waivers and if not, he starts in Hershey.\u00a0 That leaves Ethen Frank<\/a> who I think they\u2019d be comfortable keeping as the 14th forward, something they can afford with their current cap space.\u00a0 That would push Dylan McIlrath<\/a> to waivers but he has cleared several times before and should again.<\/p>\n

With some waiver-exempt pieces, there isn\u2019t as much of a logjam as it might seem.\u00a0 Honestly, I could see them sniffing around on another forward should one become available and if that pushes Frank to waivers, I think they\u2019d be okay with that.<\/p>\n

SirCobblestone: With the addition of the Sharks on defense (even if it\u2019s not done I assume) and the potential add of Misa with Dickinson and Askarov, where do you see the Sharks land with a top six composed of Celebrini, Misa, Smith, and Eklund at Wing and Toffoli with Orlov and Klingberg. That should be a good add on defense.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re missing a top-six forward in there which I imagine will be Alexander Wennberg<\/a>, at least until he\u2019s traded as a rental center at some point in the season, allowing one of Will Smith<\/a> or Michael Misa<\/a> to get some time in at their natural position.\u00a0 That group has a lot of upside but teams with that many youngsters in prominent roles are going to struggle.\u00a0 There\u2019s just no way around that with four entry-level forwards in the top six.<\/p>\n

As for the defense, it has definitely improved with the additions of Dmitry Orlov<\/a>, Nick Leddy<\/a>, and John Klingberg<\/a> but that\u2019s a low bar to clear as San Jose\u2019s back end was really bad last year.\u00a0 The problem is that it\u2019s still not very good.\u00a0 Klingberg is a question mark defensively and Leddy is coming off a really rough year.\u00a0 Orlov is overpaid but decent at least.\u00a0 If Sam Dickinson<\/a> is added to this group (they\u2019re going to need to move out more than just Henry Thrun<\/a> for that to happen), there will be some growing pains defensively although he\u2019d give them a big lift offensively with Klingberg.\u00a0 This is the definition of a patchwork back end; of the seven they have signed now on one-way deals, only one (Orlov) is signed beyond this season.\u00a0 It\u2019s better but this is still not a playoff-worthy group.<\/p>\n

As for the goaltending, Yaroslav Askarov<\/a> is the big wild card.\u00a0 Like many, I have high expectations for him over the long haul but for the upcoming season, there are going to be some growing pains as he adjusts to being the starter at the NHL level for the first time while playing behind a defense that still isn\u2019t particularly strong.\u00a0 Alex Nedeljkovic<\/a> is a serviceable backup but I expect his numbers to nosedive next season given the situation.<\/p>\n

So, where do I see San Jose next season?\u00a0 Probably in the same spot where they were last season, in the basement of the Pacific Division.\u00a0 Things are definitely looking up and they\u2019re not going to be down there for much longer but this is going to be another season where process and development are more important than results.\u00a0 They\u2019re not ready to emerge from the rebuild yet and their activity this summer suggests GM Mike Grier is fully aware of that.<\/p>\n

SpeakOfTheDevils: Let\u2019s play hypothetical and say the Devils DO trade Dougie Hamilton<\/a>, what kind of return could we be looking at??? And likeliest trading partners????<\/p>\n

I\u2019m going to go with the second question first here.\u00a0 I could see Toronto being in there as they could use a top offensive threat.\u00a0 Detroit has done next to nothing to improve a back end that certainly struggled last year so they\u2019d be in the mix I\u2019d think.\u00a0 I\u2019m sure Dallas would love to swing that but the term remaining would be an option; I think they\u2019re more of a fit for Erik Karlsson<\/a> if Pittsburgh pays down a good chunk of his deal.\u00a0 Buffalo has been searching for an impact right-shot defender for ages now but it would surprise me if he\u2019s on Hamilton\u2019s list of 10 teams he\u2019d accept a trade to.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Several teams can afford him but at the stage of the rebuild they\u2019re in, they\u2019re probably not a good fit.\u00a0 Others like Calgary and Winnipeg don\u2019t seem like teams on his trade list either.\u00a0 And this is the problem; between Hamilton\u2019s trade protection, cap hit, and performance, there\u2019s not a great market for his services.\u00a0 I don\u2019t even think Detroit would be on his yes list so we\u2019re down to Toronto and if New Jersey wants to pay down some of the contract, maybe Dallas.<\/p>\n

So, the short answer to your question in terms of a return is nothing that would justify trading Hamilton.\u00a0 If Pittsburgh trades Karlsson, they\u2019ll be able to get positive value but probably nothing of consequence.\u00a0 Salary ballast, maybe a second-round pick, and perhaps something else.\u00a0 That\u2019s something, but nothing to get excited about.\u00a0 Is Hamilton going to be able to bring back more that with three years left on his deal?\u00a0 Maybe if it\u2019s more of a player-for-player straight-up swap (if Morgan Rielly<\/a> was willing to waive his trade protection, maybe there\u2019s a foundation of a trade there) but otherwise, I wouldn\u2019t be counting on it.\u00a0 So, something around what I think Karlsson would get would be my answer to the first question.<\/p>\n

Hamilton managed to be healthier last season but also dropped below 20 minutes a night which, for a $9MM blueliner, is a little concerning.\u00a0 With Johnathan Kovacevic<\/a> out for a bit to start the season, I don\u2019t expect them to seriously consider trading him.\u00a0 The Devils want to stay in the playoffs and Hamilton is a better insurance policy than whatever bits and pieces they could get in a trade.<\/p>\n

tucsontoro1: Is it time for the league to do something substantial about tanking?<\/p>\n

The Blackhawks are clearly in \u201cfull tank mode\u201d for the 25\u201326 season.<\/p>\n

Let me answer your question with a question \u2013 how would the league do that?\u00a0 The NHL has already lowered the draft odds and it hasn\u2019t served as a deterrent.\u00a0 They\u2019ve also put in something saying a team can\u2019t advance their pick in the lottery more than twice in five years, a change that hasn\u2019t garnered much attention yet since it hasn\u2019t come into play.<\/p>\n

The NBA gives equal odds for the bottom three finishers (and fourth is only a bit lower) but that didn\u2019t stop teams from tanking for Cooper Flagg<\/a>.\u00a0 And the end result for two drafts now has been a team with odds of 3% or less jumping up to the top spot (Dallas from 11th to take Flagg and Atlanta from 10th to take Zaccharie Risacher<\/a>).\u00a0 Will that stop teams from tanking in basketball next season?\u00a0 Probably not.<\/p>\n

MLB started drawing for the first six selections back in 2023 instead of going by reverse standings while also putting some restrictions on teams drafting in the lottery back-to-back times.\u00a0 Did that stop the Athletics from tanking for three straight years?\u00a0 Nope, even though they were slotted 11th in last week\u2019s draft as a result of the rule changes.\u00a0 The White Sox were terrible last year but knew going in that they couldn\u2019t pick in the lottery even if they had the worst record; clearly, it wasn\u2019t a deterrent that prevented them from tanking.\u00a0 Meanwhile, there are some overtly tanking teams there this season too (including the White Sox again, no less).\u00a0 And the NFL still goes by reverse standings with teams already seemingly jockeying themselves for first overall.<\/p>\n

Sure, the NHL could flatten the odds more or put more restrictions on picking in the top five, for example.\u00a0 But in the grand scheme of things, if that happened, does anyone think Chicago or San Jose would change course?\u00a0 In a system where top young talents are distributed through a draft system, teams are going to try to position themselves to have the best chance at getting one of those if they know they\u2019re not in a spot to realistically contend for a playoff spot.\u00a0 This strategy, one that exists in each of the big four professional sports, isn\u2019t going anywhere.<\/p>\n

SkidRowe: What can the Bruins do? They need scoring and have only $2 million in cap space. Would you trade Zacha, Poitras, Mittelstadt, Minten, or Korpisalo?<\/p>\n

I\u2019m going to say no to trading Matthew Poitras<\/a> or Fraser Minten<\/a>.\u00a0 Might they fetch a capable veteran to help in the short term?\u00a0 I think they would.\u00a0 But they\u2019re not going to bring back enough of a difference-maker to materially improve Boston\u2019s fortunes.\u00a0 These are young centers with some promise and that\u2019s the type of player they need to be keeping around as longer-term fits.<\/p>\n

If Boston is confident that Michael DiPietro<\/a> can be a capable NHL backup, moving Joonas Korpisalo<\/a> makes sense in theory.\u00a0 Jeremy Swayman<\/a> can probably handle a similar workload to last season, meaning DiPietro would only need to make 25 starts or so.\u00a0 The question here, however, is what market is there for a goalie right now, especially one with a cap charge of $3MM (not including the $1MM Ottawa is covering)?\u00a0 He could fit in Edmonton but they can\u2019t afford him.\u00a0 Same with Vegas.\u00a0 Maybe Carolina but is he demonstrably better than their tandem?\u00a0 I like the idea of trading Korpisalo more than the potential of it actually happening but if it did, that\u2019s something they could reinvest into their offense.<\/p>\n

The other two are a little more interesting.\u00a0 Casey Mittelstadt<\/a> isn\u2019t a rental, he has a track record of some offensive success, and he\u2019s a center.\u00a0 Given the immense demand for capable middlemen right now, I think there would be a good market for him.\u00a0 On the other hand, Boston\u2019s center depth isn\u2019t great and I\u2019d like to see how he fares under new head coach Marco Sturm first.\u00a0 If the new system helps get him going, he could be more of a potential longer-term fit.<\/p>\n

If Boston is comfortable with deploying one of the two young centers on a regular basis (or playing one of Sean Kuraly<\/a> or Mikey Eyssimont on the third line), Pavel Zacha<\/a> could be expendable.\u00a0 At $4.75MM, he\u2019s someone some teams can afford and while he\u2019s coming off a quieter year, 47 points is still decent; it was good enough for a share of third in team scoring.\u00a0 But it begs the question of why Boston, a team that needs firepower, would move one of their better point-getters from a year ago?\u00a0 Maybe if there\u2019s a winger that\u2019s signed or controllable for longer than Zacha (a pending UFA), there\u2019s a lateral swap to be made but otherwise, I\u2019d reassess closer to the trade deadline.<\/p>\n

Despite Boston\u2019s spending spree this summer, I don\u2019t think they\u2019ve done enough to get back to the playoff picture.\u00a0 Moving one of those pieces for a bit more firepower on the wing isn\u2019t going to change that.\u00a0 So, personally, I wouldn\u2019t be making any win-now trades unless this group proves me wrong and shows it\u2019s worthy of some moves to help them in the second half of the season.\u00a0 Otherwise, Zacha could be a very useful rental for someone, yielding the Bruins a nice future asset in return.<\/p>\n

Pearlo: Do you think Toronto is sort of mailing it in this year with the prospect of McDavid being available next year?<\/p>\n

By all accounts, Connor McDavid<\/a> wants to see Edmonton put its best foot forward to show that they\u2019re worth re-signing with, even as a team that just made it to the Stanley Cup Final for two years.\u00a0 For any team, Toronto or otherwise, to sandbag a summer\u2019s worth of activity and not put their best foot forward to try to win seems counterintuitive, doesn\u2019t it?\u00a0 Yes, he\u2019s a GTA native so there will be some speculative dot connecting but honestly, I don\u2019t think the odds are all that high that McDavid would leave Edmonton.\u00a0 And if he did, there would be a lot of suitors for him.<\/p>\n

Between those two factors, what are the odds that he\u2019d sign with Toronto?\u00a0 I\u2019d peg McDavid testing free agency at 10% and some other prominent teams will be interested so best case might be 5%?\u00a0 I can\u2019t see GM Brad Treliving mailing in an offseason\u2019s worth of activity for a one-in-20 shot (on the optimistic side) of getting McDavid.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not a big fan of Toronto\u2019s offseason activity (it\u2019s hard to be when you lose a top talent in Mitch Marner<\/a>) but I don\u2019t think they\u2019re mailing it in either.\u00a0 Treliving spoke of changing the team\u2019s DNA after the season and it looks like there\u2019s a focus on getting some better defensive players and deepening the depth along the way.\u00a0 They won\u2019t be as much of a high-octane attack moving forward but they\u2019re shifting toward a playing style that might serve them better in the playoffs where they have to get through Florida at some point in the first two rounds.\u00a0 That\u2019s not necessarily mailing it in, that\u2019s just a shift in team philosophy.<\/p>\n

MoneyBallJustWorks: Not counting the Panthers, which team do you think has had the best offseason to date (noting it\u2019s early) and which team have you been disappointed with so far?<\/p>\n

I really like what Utah has done.\u00a0 They took advantage of their stockpile of young depth to get JJ Peterka<\/a> from Buffalo, a legitimate top-line scoring threat and then signed him for $7.7MM per season, a price tag that is fair market value now and should flip to team-friendly before long.\u00a0 Brandon Tanev<\/a> gives them some more grit in the bottom six and someone who can help on the penalty kill, Nate Schmidt<\/a> is a stable defender to help stabilize their bottom pairing, and Vitek Vanecek<\/a> gives them some goalie insurance with the uncertainty surrounding Connor Ingram<\/a>.\u00a0 They didn\u2019t lose too much of consequence and their young core looks poised to continue to improve while getting a shot in the arm with Peterka.\u00a0 Montreal would also be in that territory of a strong offseason, adding Noah Dobson<\/a> and Zach Bolduc, two players they\u2019re hoping become part of their long-term core while not losing anyone from that core to do so.<\/p>\n

There are three teams that come to mind in the disappointing category for two different reasons.\u00a0 The Kings had lots of cap space to play with but couldn\u2019t land anyone of much consequence, instead spreading their money on decent but largely overpriced depth veterans while losing one of their top blueliners in Vladislav Gavrikov<\/a>.\u00a0 They\u2019re a deeper team now but are they better for all they spent?\u00a0 Needing to ask that puts them in this spot.\u00a0 Boston\u2019s in the same boat.\u00a0 For a team that can\u2019t score, giving Tanner Jeannot<\/a> five years at $3.2MM and adding a pair of fourth-line centers in Mikey Eyssimont and Sean Kuraly for $3.3MM combined seems like a bit of an odd way to fix that.\u00a0 I liked the Viktor Arvidsson<\/a> addition and think he\u2019ll bounce back but I\u2019d have rather seen them add another top-six type of player than focus on adding more physicality.\u00a0 That would have been a more useful way to use those funds.<\/p>\n

The other disappointment is Columbus for their relative inaction.\u00a0 Yes, Ivan Provorov<\/a> got an eye-popping deal but after striking out on Dobson, they didn\u2019t have much of a choice with the dearth of blueliners available.\u00a0 They\u2019re not noted here because of that.\u00a0 They\u2019re noted here because they haven\u2019t done much else.\u00a0 They gave up a good prospect to take on a struggling Charlie Coyle<\/a> and a long-term overpayment in Miles Wood<\/a> and, well, that\u2019s about it so far.\u00a0 They\u2019ve tried to make a bigger splash but came up short.\u00a0 For a team that just missed the playoffs last season though, they haven\u2019t done enough to truly improve their chances.<\/p>\n

Photo courtesy of\u00a0Tom Horak-USA TODAY Sports.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Topics in this edition of the PHR Mailbag include assessing San Jose\u2019s busy last few weeks, early offseason…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11871,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,448,11295,2368,82],"class_list":["post-11870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nhl","tag-phr-mailbag","tag-pro-hockey-rumors-originals","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11870"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11870\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}