NHL Rumors: Seattle Kraken, Boston Bruins, New Jersey Devils

Welcome to another edition of Full Press Hockey’s NHL Rumors! The 2022-23 season is over and players as well as front offices will be evaluated. Now, the focus shifts toward the new season.

In this Wednesday’s edition of NHL Rumors, we will look at the Seattle Kraken, Boston Bruins, and the New Jersey Devils.

NHL rumors in this edition include:

We are going to delve into mock trades. While there are still lots of NHL rumors concerning some major trades, it’s always fun to speculate as to what trades could look like. Whether they are realistic or fantasy, let’s see what could happen.

Will the Seattle Kraken and San Jose Sharks make a deal for Erik Karlsson? With the Boston Bruins limited cap space, will they trade goalie Jeremy Swayman to the Philadelphia Flyers? The New Jersey Devils may have their eye on acquiring Noah Hanifin, and what might that cost them?

Seattle Kraken – Erik Karlsson

Rumor: Per – Shane Seney – nhltraderumors.me. Erik Karlsson has been in numerous trade rumors, but could the Kraken swoop in and grab him?

With the Carolina Hurricanes recently signing Anthony DeAngelo, it seems they may be done attempting to add Karlsson to their blueline. Now, it seems it could come down to the Pittsburgh Penguins or the Kraken who may win the Karlsson sweepstakes. In this mock trade, Karlsson heads to the Pacific Northwest. In return, the Kraken send Shane Wright, Justin Schultz, and Alexander Wennberg packing to San Jose. Of course, any deal concerning Karlsson must include the Sharks retaining some salary and in this scenario, they would retain 50 percent of Karlsson’s $11.5 million contract that runs through the 2026-27 season.

The focus of this mock trade for the Sharks would be landing Wright. Both Schultz and Wennberg are in the final season of their contracts and hold modified no-trade clauses and could be persuaded to go to Northern California.

The Kraken (or any other team adding Karlsson) would be acquiring a true power play quarterback and scorer who tallied 25 goals and 76 assists while playing in all 82 games. The Kraken can survive losing two forwards since they are deep in that area. They also could afford Karlsson’s salary with the retention, since they would be trading away about $8 million in cap hits.

Realistic or Fantasy? It’s doubtful that the Sharks will retain 50 percent of EK’s salary. While they may love getting Wright in the deal, Schultz is 33 and Wennberg had a down year. Not going to happen…. fantasy.

Boston Bruins – Jeremy Swayman

Rumor: Per – Jonathan Bailey – broadstreetbuzz.com. Could there be a trade involving two goalies swapping teams?

Jeremy Swayman, ladies and gentleman pic.twitter.com/DNOILafDM6

— Joe Haggerty (@HackswithHaggs) March 4, 2022

The Boston Bruins find themselves with two outstanding goalies, who were able to split the duties last season. They only have $5.4 million in cap space and must sign Swayman and forward Trent Frederic. The projected salary for Swayman comes in at $3.77 million, while Frederic has a $2.27 million estimate. That puts them over their cap limit, thus forcing them to consider trading Swaman.

This mock trade is very intriguing. Bailey projects trading Swayman to the Flyers for their goalie Carter Hart. Just the thought of these two Eastern Conference rivals making any kind of trade is enough in itself. But, two goalies swapping teams? Hart makes $3.98 million through next season, so the salaries would be comparable. The Flyers who have $2.9 million and only need to sign Morgan Frost could retain some salary to entice the Bruins.

What it boils down to is Hart is under contract and Swayman is not.

Realistic or Fantasy? This is pure fantasy. If the Bruins can find a way to keep Swayman, who could be the starter in the future, why would they trade him? Of course, the arbitration hearing could force the issue. We need to wait and see. It just doesn’t seem feasible that this trade could go down.

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New Jersey Devils – Noah Hanifin

Rumor: Per – James Wilson – nhltraderumors.me. The Devils are looking to acquire Hanifin which could only make them more of a Cup threat.

Flames goal! Great passing play finished off by Noah Hanifin!

Huge goal.

2-2 pic.twitter.com/x5kywy0h9A

— Robert Munnich (@RingOfFireCGY) April 5, 2023

This mock trade involves sending Hanifin to New Jersey for Dawson Mercer. While some think the Flames should keep Hanifin, it seems like things are falling apart in Calgary. They already lost key players like Johnny Gaudreau, Matthew Tkachuk and Tyler Toffoli. Will Hanifin even want to stay? One must admit this would be a fairly favorable trade for the Flames if Hanifin truly does want to move on somewhere else. Going to New Jersey could give him a great chance at hoisting a Cup.

Mercer would be a loss for the Devils as he added 27 goals and 29 assists in 82 games last season in New Jersey. Hanifin managed seven goals and 31 assists in 81 games. Hanifin is 26 while Mercer is just 21 years old. Mercer will be a restricted free agent after this upcoming season. If I were GM Tom Fitzgerald, I would not trade Mercer. He is an offensive jewel that the Devils should keep. The trade seems very one-sided to the Flames advantage.

Realistic or Fantasy? This too is fantasy. There is no conceivable way that Mercer is going anywhere. Sure he’s a RFA next season, but the Devils will find money to pay him.

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