{"id":415686,"date":"2026-01-17T16:42:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T16:42:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/415686\/"},"modified":"2026-01-17T16:42:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T16:42:11","slug":"nhl-rumor-mill-january-17-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/415686\/","title":{"rendered":"NHL Rumor Mill \u2013 January 17, 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Rangers could part ways with Artemi Panarin<\/a> and other veterans soon, while the Flames could be on the verge of trading Rasmus Andersson<\/a>. Check out the latest in the NHL Rumor Mill.<\/p>\n

RANGERS TO BECOME SELLERS AS MANAGEMENT INTENDS TO RETOOL THE ROSTER<\/p>\n

NEW YORK POST:<\/a> Mollie Walker reports the Rangers won\u2019t be offering Artemi Panarin<\/a> a contract extension. The 34-year-old winger is eligible to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

New York Rangers winger Artemi Panarin (NHL Images).<\/p>\n

The news comes on the heels of a public letter released by General Manager Chris Drury to Rangers fans, informing them that he intends to retool the roster.<\/p>\n

Panarin carries an $11.6 million cap hit and a full no-movement clause. The latter could hamper the Rangers\u2019 efforts to trade him for assets. Nevertheless, Sportsnet\u2019s Elliotte Friedman reports Drury is prepared to work with Panarin and his agent to trade the winger wherever he wants to go.<\/p>\n

SPECTOR\u2019S NOTE: From Drury\u2019s standpoint, the more trade destinations that Panarin lists, the better the opportunity to start a bidding war that could fetch the Rangers a solid return before the March 6 trade deadline. If Panarin only lists one or two teams, the Rangers will be lucky to get a couple of second-round picks for him.<\/p>\n

Panarin could decide that he doesn\u2019t like the idea of joining another team midseason. However, it\u2019s unlikely that he\u2019ll want to play out the final months of his contract with a club that prefers to move him.<\/p>\n

THE ATHLETIC<\/a>: Peter Baugh examined how the Rangers\u2019 upcoming roster retool will affect the current players. He considered Panarin the most likely to be moved.<\/p>\n

Drury had individual meetings with Mika Zibanejad<\/a>, J.T. Miller<\/a>, Adam Fox<\/a>, Vladislav Gavrikov<\/a>, and Igor Shesterkin<\/a>. Each of them has a no-movement clause, and informed Drury that they want to stay. A league source told Baugh that Miller\u2019s camp doesn\u2019t expect management to ask their client to waive his NMC.<\/p>\n

Trading underachieving 24-year-old winger Alexis Lafreniere<\/a> doesn\u2019t make sense unless the return is a player around the same age.<\/p>\n

Baugh believes the Rangers should at least consider offers for 32-year-old center Vincent Trocheck<\/a>.<\/p>\n

SPECTOR\u2019S NOTE: Those players with full NMCs won\u2019t be moved unless they\u2019re willing to waive them. Based on Baugh\u2019s reporting, Panarin seems to be the only one who could be moved because of his UFA eligibility in July.<\/p>\n

TVA SPORTS:<\/a> Renaud Lavoie pointed out that there have been no trades between the Montreal Canadiens<\/a> and the New York Rangers<\/a> since former Rangers general manager Jeff Gorton became the Canadiens VP of hockey operations in November 2021. Lavoie doubted there would ever be one as long as Gorton and Drury are in their respective roles.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, Lavoie believes the Canadiens have a duty to monitor Panarin\u2019s situation. He noted the veteran winger has been linked to the Florida Panthers<\/a> for some time.<\/p>\n

Lavoie thinks a change of scenery might do wonders for Lafreniere, who is signed through 2031-32 with an AAV of $7.45 million. He believes that the winger\u2019s contract fits within the Canadiens\u2019 salary structure, and he\u2019s the right age to fit in with their young core.<\/p>\n

SPECTOR\u2019S NOTE: It\u2019s doubtful Panarin will waive his NMC to join a rebuilding team like the Canadiens. Besides, he\u2019s the type of player you acquire if you\u2019re a Stanley Cup contender. The Canadiens have improved, but they\u2019re not yet a Cup contender.<\/p>\n

Lafreniere can play either wing, but his strong side is left wing. The Canadiens have Cole Caufield<\/a> and Juraj Slafkovsky<\/a> filling that role on their top two lines. They have Ivan Demidov<\/a> at right wing on their second line, and he could end up on the top line within the next two years. Promising right wing Alexander Zharovsky<\/a> is among their best prospects, and he\u2019ll likely make his NHL debut when his KHL contract expires in 2027.<\/p>\n

The Canadiens also lack the cap space to acquire Lafreniere this season. Doing so would mean making a couple of significant cost-cutting moves.<\/p>\n

FLAMES COULD BE TRADING RASMUS ANDERSSON SOON<\/p>\n

TSN<\/a>: Pierre LeBrun reports trade talks are intensifying around Calgary Flames<\/a> defenseman Rasmus Andersson<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The 29-year-old defenseman is UFA eligible in July and carries a $4.55 million cap hit this season with a six-team no-trade list. It\u2019s believed the Flames came close to trading him to the Vegas Golden Knights<\/a> last summer, but the deal never materialized.<\/p>\n

SPECTOR\u2019S NOTE: There have been rumors claiming the Flames are on the verge of trading Andersson to the Boston Bruins<\/a> or the Dallas Stars<\/a>. Hopefully, there will be further clarification soon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Rangers could part ways with Artemi Panarin and other veterans soon, while the Flames could be on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":204185,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,448,82],"class_list":["post-415686","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415686","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=415686"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415686\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/204185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=415686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=415686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=415686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}