NHL Rumors: Ottawa Senators, Philadelphia Flyers, St. Louis Blues

Welcome to the Sunday edition of Full Press Hockey’s NHL Rumors! The NHL Trade Deadline is long gone and the push to the playoffs is on. That means teams are going to be focused on their pending free agents. Not to mention all the moves that did not happen at the trade deadline could be revisited. In this post-trade-deadline edition of NHL Rumors we look at the Ottawa Senators, Philadelphia Flyers, and the St. Louis Blues.

Ottawa Senators – Justin Bieber’s Interested in Buying Senators

Rumor – Per – Blake Seidler – clutchpoints.com. Seidler mentioned that Jeff Marek from 32 Thoughts stated that Bieber has kicked tires on the idea of owning the Ottawa Senators.

“We know that people like—well, Justin Bieber, for one—have kicked tires on the idea of owning the Ottawa Senators…” –@JeffMarek on last week’s 32 Thoughts podcast

wait… what⁉️🤯 pic.twitter.com/9vapSiLgFJ

— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) April 7, 2022

Bieber, who is 28 years old, has always been a huge hockey fan and has even played in celebrity games in the past. He has been in the company of Auston Matthews and is worth an estimated $285 million. The Senators, according to Forbes AT have been valued at $525 million. Any decision on if the team will remain in the Melynk family perhaps run by Eugene’s two daughters has yet to be determined.

If Bieber were to purchase the team, he would become the youngest team owner in professional sports. We’ve already witnessed the NHL with its first Hispanic owner in Alex Meruelo in Arizona, so why not see what a young pop star can do in that position? One must admit it would be very intriguing to see what Bieber could do. Who knows, he could turn the franchise around, and especially attract younger fans to games if he performed at Sens games. 

Philadelphia Flyers – Need of a Center

Rumor: Per prohockeyrumors.com. Without Claude Giroux, the Philadelphia Flyers center depth could use an upgrade. According to Elliotte Friedman of sporstnet.ca and 32 Thoughts, a name that was speculated was Nazem Kadri.

Kadri has 83 points in 65 games including 26 goals. The downside is he will turn 32 years old about the time the next season begins. If he desires a long-term contract after such a successful 2021-22 season, that could be an issue the Flyers want to avoid.

Other choices may be Ryan Strome, Max Domi, Andrew Copp, or Paul Stastny. An even better option could be Vincent Trocheck. He has 46 points in 70 games this season and is a solid 200-foot player. Of course, replacing someone like Giroux won’t be an easy task. Speaking of Giroux, the Flyers will lose the $4.14 million in dead cap space created when Giroux was traded to the Florida Panthers. Still, the team will only have about $8 million in cap space to use for paying for a new center.

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St. Louis Blues – Jordan Binnington

Rumor: Per Jimmy Rutherford – theathletic.com. What’s wrong with Jordan Binnington? It’s complicated.

Jordan Binnington has a salary of $6 million for the next five years. His 13-13-4 record with a dismal 3.25 goals-against-average and even worse .899 save percentage must worry the Blues’ management. His backup Ville Husso has pretty much taken over the net duties due to Binnington’s poor performance. Husso has really shined in his starting role.

He has collected a sparkling 22-6-5 record with a 2.38 GAA and a .924 SV%. Hard to beat those numbers.

While the Blues tried to see if there was any interest in moving Binnington before the trade deadline, they didn’t get any takers. With his weak stats, it’s no surprise. Husso is on a very reasonable contract of $750,000 and is an unrestricted free agent. It remains unknown if Husso can continue his exemplar play, but at this point, it seems that Binnington needs to go.

He seems to realize it too when he lost his cool in this video compilation. Doesn’t really display any emotional intelligence.

Will this be Binnington’s last season in a Blues jersey? We’ll see.

That does it for this Sunday edition of NHL rumors. Be sure to check back for our next article!