NHL Rumors: Boston Bruins, Vancouver Canucks, Philadelphia Flyers

Welcome to another edition of Full Press Hockey’s NHL Rumors! The 2022-23 regular season is more than halfway done and players will be evaluated. Now, with the trade deadline past, the focus shifts toward deals that may go down this summer. What about free agency?

Clubs are always working to improve their rosters for next season. Some teams are having difficulty creating enough cap space to make moves. Others are experiencing severe injuries to star players. Trade rumors/signings are over for now, but teams will be gearing up for the playoffs. In this Sunday edition of NHL Rumors, we will look at the Boston Bruins, Vancouver Canucks, and the Philadelphia Flyers.

Boston Bruins – Dmitry Orlov

Rumors: Per – Rob Couch – nhltraderumors.me. Orlov is in the final year of a six-year, $5.1 million AAV deal and should see his salary and contract length on his next deal go up even more. 

Couch states that Boston Globe writer Kevin Dupont thinks that Orlov may be too pricey to keep for next season. He will be an UFA and carries a $5.1 million contract. The Bruins will have $10.6 million in cap space next season, it may mean that two D-men out of a group including Matt Grzelcyk, Derek Forbort, or Brandon Carlo may need to be moved.

If Orlov expects a deal worth in the range of $6-7 million, something will need to be done. Re-signing both Tyler Bertuzzi and Patrice Bergeron (if he doesn’t retire) will require contracts that couldn’t fit Orlov’s money demands.

This shows how most teams really need the salary cap to increase to a higher level. Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem to be happening anytime soon, as it will only increase from $1 million to $83.5 million next season.

Vancouver Canucks – Ivan Barbashev

Per – Rick Dhaliwal -@DhaliwalSports. For the Canucks to get Barbashev, the first option is to hope the Vegas Golden Knights don’t have the intention of re-signing him.

With all the salary cap issues that the Golden Knights have, it may be better to trade him before he becomes an UFA. His salary is $2.25 million, but he will expect a pay raise. Vegas also has $15.7 million in LTIR contracts which may expire before the 2023-24 season starts.

Barbashev, 27 has 14 goals and 23 assists in 69 games this season. He is a crash-and-bang forward who has discovered more of a scoring touch over the last two seasons.

For the Canucks to afford to sign Barbashev, they may need to trade Brock Boeser (which has been rumored) or Conor Garland who also has been in trade rumors. As it stands, the Vancouver club will be over the cap limit by about $750,000. Look for the Canucks to figure it out, as Barashev would help their forward line especially if they lose either Garland or Boeser.

Philadelphia Flyers – Carter Hart

Rumor: Per – Elliotte Friedman – sportsnet.ca. The Philadelphia Flyers have made drastic changes to their management group and it sounds like those changes are going to trickle down to the ice.

Elliotte Friedman reported on his podcast today that Carter Hart will be available.

Veterans with 2-3 years left on their deals who don’t fit the timeline of the rebuild will be on the trade block.

(@FriedgeHNIC) pic.twitter.com/iPAFRBsLst

— Flyers Nation (@FlyersNation) March 13, 2023

Here are three potential destinations for the former second-round pick:

San Jose Sharks – James Reimer will be a UFA this summer, and his $2.25 million cap hit will also be gone. Adding a young goalie like Hart can be a way to move forward. Hart seems ready for a change of scenery as well. Hart is signed through next season with a $3.979 million cap hit.

Ottawa Senators – The Senators don’t have Cam Talbot signed for next season, and could use Hart’s youth and abilities. The Ottawa club has added many good pieces recently and are trying to make its move to be a playoff-caliber team. Adding Hart would help with that plan.

Colorado Avalanche – The Avs have Alexandar Georgiev as their starter and don’t seem interested in extending backup Pavel Francouz. Hart could really excel with a championship-caliber team and show what his real potential is. His best season in Philadelphia was during the pandemic shortened 2019-20 campaign when he had a 9-5 record during the playoffs. He also posted a .926 save percentage with a 2.23 goals-against average.

That concludes this edition of NHL rumors. Be sure to catch our next article, and thanks for reading!