Coconuts

https://www.thescore.com/nhl/news/2825234 A couple days old, but interesting nonetheless The Nashville Predators aren't completely slamming the door on trading star goaltender Juuse Saros. While the No. 1 plan remains signing Saros to an offseason extension, the club is willing to listen if it gets a serious trade offer, reports TSN's Pierre LeBrun. The demand for reliable goaltending among contending teams is the primary reason for the Predators' new-found openness to entertain offers, LeBrun added. Saros has established himself as one of the NHL's premier netminders over the last few seasons, never finishing worse than sixth in Vezina Trophy voting since 2021. However, Saros is in the midst of his worst NHL campaign. He entered the year without ever recording a save percentage below .915 in a season, but he sits at .900 so far in 2023-24. The underlying numbers aren't any better, as his minus-0.23 goals save above expected also stands to be the worst of his career, per Evolving-Hockey. For comparison, he saved 45.5 goals above expected last year, the second most in the league. Nashville drafted Saros in the fourth round in 2013. He shared the crease with the legendary Pekka Rinne until his fellow Finn retired in 2021. Since then, Saros has started a league-leading 164 games. Saros' $5-million cap hit, tied for the 14th-highest among NHL goalies this season, would be appealing for teams. The 28-year-old is under contract through 2024-25 and is eligible to sign an extension July 1. The Predators entered Thursday occupying the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference with a handful of teams on their tails. MoneyPuck gives them a 43.8% chance of making the postseason.

Happened yesterday but I don't even recall seeing he'd been on waivers, but it seems legit Poor Carolina, probably wouldn't have foreseen goaltending being their weakness going into the season

They could be a playoff team, both the 6-8 spots in each conference are very much up for grabs

Mac keeps on trucking despite the Avs being banged up, I hope this is the season he finally wins a Hart or Art Ross One of the most entertaining players in the league, up to 77 points in 47 games now if I'm not mistaken, which overtakes Kucherov

This could have something to do with it, all things considered it's impressive that they're still in the mix for the playoffs

Now that's a surprise, be interesting to see how the Isles do going forward

Happened yesterday but didn't see anything about it

Buble's been invisible this season though

Just shy of tying Orr Him and Hughes are neck and neck with 53 points apiece, although Hughes has played 4 more games

Wouldn't have thought Mittlestadt would be available, but he's a pending RFA who should be getting quite a bag 59 in 82 last season, 39 in 45 this season, 26 in November Wonder what they'd be asking for if he actually ends up being available

Killorn out 4-6 weeks Be interesting to see who the Ducks end up selling, they have a few options teams should be quite interested in Looking like they'll grab another top 5 pick to add to their stable of stud youth with https://www.nhl.com/ducks/news/killorn-to-undergo-knee-surgery-out-4-6-weeks

Could the Oilers coach be a dark horse for the Jack Adams if the Oil can keep it up? Oilers are 22-6-0 since firing Jay Woodcroft on November 12 Oilers in a post Jay Woodcroft world: .786 P% (2nd) 109 GF (3rd) 70 GA (3rd) 3.89 GF/GP (1st) 2.50 GA/GP (4th) 26.7 PP% (6th) 88.2 PK% (2nd) Stuart Skinner is .920% / 2.21GAA + 2 SOs 12 game winning streak (and counting)

Doubt it'll happen but it'd be neat to have an Iginla

5-4 Toronto Matthews Leafs with more PIMS

Management's talked about this repeatedly, they have him for this year and next at the very least, they'll get it sorted I dunno why so many folks are so antsy to hit the panic button

Points need to be taken with a grain of salt, absolutely, but like I said yesterday I reckon a good portion of Ottawa's struggles stem from coaching and goaltending Does defense contribute to both? Absolutely, but if the Sens can implement better systems and tweak the makeup of their defense a bit that'd probably solve some of their issues. Not all of them, they absolutely need to find a good coach to do just that, and at 71 that's likely not Jacques Martin They're also likely stuck with Korpisalo unless they can pay to swap him in an upgrade or simply pay to move on, but more than likely they'll see what a coach change can do first As of today the Sens are tied for 30th in goals allowed, they're 30th on the PK, and they're 30th in penalty minutes, their being undisciplined compounds the rest Their powerplay has also been lousy, sitting at 24th despite the Sens being 9th in goals, but one could probably chalk some of that up to them having missed Chabot most of the season, that likely reflects in their D stats as well It's a gamble, but a better bet than giving Pinto bigger dollars and term imo, at least Sanderson has top 5 pedigree Even bottom feeders can have top 4D, Ottawa would really benefit from a D in the mold of Tanev though, Zub can't do it all Pulled these from reddit, posted three hours ago in the Sens sub so I'm assuming they're up to date I probs don't read these as well as @Miss Korea but from what I can tell Ottawa needs to revamp their D and integrate more defensive D, which may be why they're rumoured to be taking calls on Chychrun, to mix things up Hamonic also looks like an anchor, despite him historically being looked at as more of a defensive D One more year at 1.1M with a NMC, they'd probably be better off waiving him going forward Sanderson though, he had a good rookie season and despite Ottawa's collective struggles he's still young enough to be able to improve his overall game

Nobody's arguing his tenure in Pittsburgh wasn't an overall success, but the first half of his tenure was better than the second half You don't get the nickname Trader Jim without having some duds in there after all

They're definitely spoiled, but they do also have some intelligent fans like every other fanbase Some of the moves in the latter half simply weren't all that great though

Until the offseason when he extends, but then he'll be earning too much which means we should trade him

Not so sure, I think he might have just had a career year right off the hop Boeser's overall game is also better Mikheyev also brings elements of speed and savvy Kuz doesn't He just doesn't look like much of a fit under Tochett

I think there'd be more interest in Kuz though, less term and whether he's regressed or not last season's numbers are still very recent He's probably not the player he was last season but he's probably better than he has been this season, the real Kuzmenko is probably somewhere in the middle

I'm not gonna present myself as an expert, but at a glance his numbers don't look too bad for such a young D I think a lot of what's going on in Ottawa stems from coaching and subpar goaltending, it's pretty clear Ottawa needs to change something but it's tough to place a finger on exactly what

Jim

That's the tricky part, it'll have to be a cap in/cap out move which means it'd require moving a larger cap hit. Likely one of Garland, Kuzmenko, or maybe even Mikheyev. It's what Tochett thinks that matters though, what him and management think, not so much what the fans think. I don't necessarily think it'll be an easy trade to make, but I could see Kuzmenko being open to a fresh start somewhere else, he's going to want to get another contract after this one so it makes sense for him to try and rebuild his value. And I do think his value has taken a hit this season. He'll be 30 when his deal is up, seems likely he'll want to stay in this league as opposed to going back to the KHL. Kuz does have a 12-team NTC though, so it's not as if he can just be traded anywhere.

Our second line seems like the obvious weakness on this roster, which is why it's encouraging that the Canucks supposedly want to bolster their top six I do think it'll end up being a winger, and that Kuzmenko probably ends up being flipped as part of said deal