Six weeks into the 2022-23 NHL season, we’ve started to see answers to questions that have been coming up for months.
Nazem Kadri is a Calgary Flame player, Johnny Gaudreau is a Columbus Blue Jacket player, and many others have signed new contracts and swapped jerseys. Now that the dust has settled from the summer’s biggest moves, Elliotte Friedman and Jeff Marek took some time in the latest episode of 32 Thoughts: The Podcast to shed some light on the process behind the chaos and some other deals that may still be on the horizon.
NATHAN MacKINNON WILL PLAY WITH McDAVID AS THE GREATEST PLAYER?
After a series of dominant seasons in which Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon earned several Hart Trophy nominations and won the Stanley Cup, the 26-year-old is set to receive a hefty payday for his rise to the league’s elite.
Selected first overall in 2013, he has become one of the most dynamic talents in the game over the past few years, all with a contract that paid him just $6.3 million per season – no small feat for Colorado. With that contract set to expire after the 2022-23 campaign, Friedman reported that the Nova Scotia-born player could soon see his salary doubled.
“Look, I think it’s going to be a big number. I think it’s a possibility – but not a guarantee – that Nathan MacKinnon could end up being the highest paid player in the league,” Friedman said during 32 Thoughts: The Podcast. “Right now it’s Connor McDavid with an AAV of $12.5 million. I think it’s possible. Even if it’s not, I think it will be a big number.
“If Avalanche does it and ends up as high as possible, I don’t think people will argue with that. He is so good and so important. The other thing is that if you look at it – (Cale) Makar has $9 million, (Mikko) Rantanen has $9.25 million, MacKinnon will be a total UFA, that’s a push. You’ll hear Bill Daly talk about how optimistic they are that the cap will go up a little earlier than they thought, so this is big.”
HOW NAZEM KADRI ENDED UP IN CALGARY AS ISLANDERS RUMORS SWIRL
The Avalanche have room to deal with that hefty increase, of course, since they lost 2021-22 standout Nazem Kadri, who joined the Flames on a seven-year, $49 million deal.
Kadri’s possible landing spot had been discussed around the league for weeks, with some initially assuming he would return to Colorado, and other rumors suggesting a deal had been struck with Lou Lamoriello’s New York Islanders, before Calgary announced the news.
“There were rumors circulating a few days earlier that it was a done deal. What the Flames did was to finally confirm that it was. But what they really tried to do was they really wanted to keep it a secret, because they had to make the (Sean) Monahan trade,” Friedman explained about how the Kadri and Monahan deals went down. “I think they had more than one option, I think some of them potentially fell through. But they really wanted to create a situation where they weren’t pressured by saying, ‘Oh, we have Kadri blocked, but we still have to make a move.’ I think that was a strategy on their part. And apparently it turned out to be just that.”
As for the former Toronto Maple Leaf’s other options, Calgary appears to have been a front-runner from the start.
“Kadri, I think he was really interested in Avalanche, I don’t think Avalanche were keen on the deadline. The Islanders, it’s so difficult. (…) I never thought the Islanders and Kadri were finished, I was specifically warned against saying something like that, that it would be a mistake to do it at a certain point,” Friedman said. “One thing that I think really helped the Flames was that they were the most aggressive team.
“The whole summer Calgary turned around when (MacKenzie) Weegar and (Jonathan) Huberdeau were put on the table. I think when they lost Gaudreau and were in danger of losing (Matthew) Tkachuk, they sat there and said, ‘What are we going to be? Where are we going? I think their attitude was: ‘If we can find good players, we’ll try to run it back with the rest of our group,’ and suddenly they had two really good players thrown at them. So I think that’s where it really picked up for them – they started to believe, ‘You know what, we can still be very good.
‘ Kadri said that, and I think it’s true, they were very aggressive. I think their offer, for a long time, was better than Colorado’s or the Islanders’ or anybody else’s offer there. Colorado had its limit, and I think the Islanders eventually came close to the level of the Flames. My impression was that it took them longer to get to where Calgary was willing to go, and I think that played a role. Ultimately, I think the Islanders couldn’t clear the room.”
While it’s been a wild enough summer for GM Brad Treliving and his Flames, Friedman noted that more moves could be coming for the Alberta-based club – and that they were in on Kadri’s former teammate Phil Kessel before the winger signed in Vegas this week.
“I don’t think they’re done either. I think they are going to add another striker. I wouldn’t be surprised if they snubbed Evan Rodrigues,” he said. “I think Calgary was interested in Kessel, I think there was legitimate interest from the Flames to bring them in. I wonder if the Flames are now zeroing in on Evan Rodrigues.”
PATRICK KANE REPLACEMENT MAY BE COMING, BUT NOT YET
Elsewhere in Alberta, talk has focused on Chicago winger Patrick Kane, who is a star on a team that is being heavily rebuilt. Among the many rumors that the Oilers are looking to bring in Kane to bolster the talent on the wings, there seems to be some truth to that, but a deal may not be ready yet.
“There has been a lot of talk that the Oilers will want to reach out for Patrick Kane. I think it is reasonable that they would want to. I have no reason to believe that this talk is hot air,” Friedman said of the Oilers rumors. “What do the Blackhawks want to do and what does Patrick Kane want to do? First of all, is Chicago ready for this? They have been adamant that they are not going to Kane or (Jonathan) Toews or (Seth) Jones unless those players come to them. … What makes more sense for Patrick Kane, to choose somewhere now or wait during the season to see who is good?
“I think that’s one of the things that’s kind of discussed here, both by the team and the player – do we do it now, or do we wait to see who’s good? And I think option B might be preferred.”
A key issue for any club hoping to acquire the three-time Stanley Cup champion will be how to fit in his salary, as Kane has one more year at $10.5 million before he becomes a UFA. This, of course, will be a problem for the Oilers, who already have McDavid with an even higher number on their books.
The solution, according to Friedman, could be a multi-team deal.
“It’s not just the Oilers, but I think other teams that have been looking at Kane have been looking at dual-retention situations,” – Friedman said. Such a situation would involve Kane being committed to one team and then being re-committed to his destination, with both Chicago and the former team keeping the salary, reducing it to something more affordable.
As the Oilers continue to look for ways to bolster their roster after the most promising playoff run in a decade and a half, Freidman reports that GM Ken Holland is also looking for improvements on the blue line.
“Before he landed in Anaheim, I think they were looking at (John) Klingberg,” Friedman said. “I think they tried to do something with another team, potentially Montreal, where Klingberg would have signed there and maybe been traded to Edmonton. Montreal would take some [salary] and the Oilers would do a sweetener and maybe they would have to move some player as well. I think that was discussed.”