NHL Rumors: Toronto Maple Leafs, Columbus Blue Jackets, Carolina Hurricanes

Welcome to another edition of Full Press Hockey’s NHL Rumors! The 2022-23 regular season is just about 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 Toronto Maple Leafs, Columbus Blue Jackets, and the Carolina Hurricanes.

Toronto Maple Leafs – Michael Bunting

Rumor: Per – Frank Seravalli – dailyfaceoff.com. Seravalli ranks Toronto Maple Leafs winger Michael Bunting in the No. 1 free agent spot because he’s strung together two very productive seasons – totaling 44 goals and 109 points – on his first one-way NHL contract.

With production like that, Bunting will be a hot free agent to add to many team’s rosters. His current cap hit of just $950,000 is well below his value. He is a tenacious forward who has formed a strong partnership with two of the team’s elite talents in Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner. He tallied 23 goals, 63 points last season, and has 22 goals and 47 points this season.

So, what should Bunting be paid? TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun notes the Maple Leafs have yet to open talks with the pending unrestricted free agent, but an eight-year deal could be on the table once extension talks begin. That could ease the Leafs’ ever-present cap issues, especially with the salary cap limit only raising to $83.5 million next season. Spreading a prospective contract for Bunting over a longer term would help the Leafs who will have 10 unrestricted free agents and two restricted free agents to pay or decide to move in another direction.

One of the players needing a new contract if he stays in Toronto will be Ryan O’Reilly. He had a $7.5 million cap hit when the Leafs acquired him. $5.63 million of that was retained by the St. Louis Blues and Minnesota Wild in the trade. The Toronto club projects to have $9.1 million in cap space to spend. It’s unknown how much O’Reilly would command but it could be around $5.88 million according to dobberhockey.com. Bunting should be able to earn at least a $5-$6 million AAV deal which could be spread out over a long-term backloaded pact.

Needless to say, a lot depends on how successful the Maple Leafs will be in the upcoming playoffs, and how valuable they feel Bunting is to their cause.

Columbus Blue Jackets – 1st Round Pick

Rumor: Per – Pierre LeBrun – TSN.ca. The Columbus Blue Jackets are going to be in the race to select Connor Bedard with the first overall pick at the 2023 NHL Entry Draft. Their other first-round pick, which they received from the LA Kings, will however be in play.

On his passion for pickleball, on a season from hell for his team, on Connor Bedard, on potentially moving the Kings' 1st RD pick he owns, and more.
Sat down with Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekalainen this week for my latest:https://t.co/wfJGAvhncL

— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) April 6, 2023

Blue Jackets general manager Jarmo Kekalainen said earlier this week, that his team will be active with the other selection as they look to expedite their rebuild. Kekalainen admitted to TSN’s Pierre LeBrun, the Kings’ pick is 100% in play ahead of the draft. While the pick will be later in the first round as the Kings are headed for the postseason, it should still give the Blue Jackets a piece several teams will be interested in. The team is expected to be one of the more active teams this offseason, especially if they land Bedard, who is a generational talent.

Watch for Kekalainen to move the pick for a top-four defenseman. They lost Vladislav Gavrikov to the Kings in the deal which brought back the additional first-rounder. The Blue Jackets have just under $20 million in available cap space for the 2023-24 season and look for the team to use up most of the funds as they look to bounce back in a major way next season. Their 2022-23 season was termed as “horrible” by Kekalainen.

“I don’t know if anything more could have gone wrong than has,” Kekalainen said. “We were one game under .500 last year. Then, we add Johnny Gaudreau. We were a year more experienced this year. And (when) we got off to a really bad start, 3-9, with a young group, you saw the confidence shrivel a little bit. Then injuries hit. In order to climb out of that 3-9 start, we basically had no chance with the injuries we had. It’s not an excuse, but it’s a real reason when you lose your top defenseman and some other top players.”

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Carolina Hurricanes – Shayne Gostisbehere

Rumor: Per – Michael DeRosa – nhltraderumors.me. Gostisbehere has performed well this season with 12 goals, 38 points in 71 games. Expect there to be a ton of interest towards him in NHL rumors this summer from teams needing a strong power play, puck-moving blueliner.

Here are three such teams who could use his services:

• Florida Panthers – With the loss of MacKenzie Weegar on the point, the Panthers are in need of someone to replace him. “Ghost” has all the skills needed to do just that. It also doesn’t hurt that he is a Florida native and could fit nicely on the Panthers’ roster.
• New York Islanders – The Isles need some additional offense and since Gostisbehere’s shown his offensive abilities, he could help in that area. The Islanders rank 30th in power play production with a meager 15.9 percent success ratio. Gostisbehere has five power-play goals, and has assisted on 10 others. Seems like a perfect match.
• Nashville Predators – The surprising Preds are sticking in there for a playoff spot and could look into adding Gostisbehere. Their left side could use some help and adding a player like Gostisbehere would be a good choice. They traded Mattias Ekholm and will have $13.8 million in cap space to attract Gostisbehere.

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