Daily Roundup: Hurricanes shopping Anton Forsberg, Florida trying to move Keith Yandle, and more
The puck was dropped to kick off the 2021 NHL season on Wednesday and we already have a whole bunch of rumours and headlines to cover.
Carolina shopping @Anton Forsberg
Two days ago, the Carolina Hurricanes claimed goaltender Anton Forsberg off of waivers from the Edmonton Oilers. According to Chris Johnston, Carolina is now actively trying to shop Forsberg as they have three goalies on their active roster plus Alex Nedeljkovic on the Taxi Squad.
The play here, it seems, is for Don Waddell to try to play Ken Holland into giving something up to get his third-string goalie back.
The Oilers’ third-string goalie is currently Stuart Skinner, a prospect with zero NHL experience and under 50 games at the AHL level. In the event of an injury, throwing Skinner into the deep end wouldn’t be ideal and the team would much rather have him playing in the AHL than sitting around on the Taxi Squad.
This is an interesting chess match between Waddell and Holland.
The Panthers are trying to move @Keith Yandle
Keith Yandle’s 866-game ironman streak is at risk.
According to Frank Seravalli, the veteran defender has “fallen out of favour” in Florida and he isn’t a part of the team’s plans moving forward.
The Panthers have tried to trade Yandle, but haven’t been able to do so because he carries an expensive $6.35 million cap hit for three more seasons. Yandle also has a no-movement clause, meaning he can decline any trade the Panthers try to make and he can also decline a demotion to the Taxi Squad or AHL.
Yandle has been a mainstay on the Panthers’ blueline for the past four seasons, racking up 204 points over 315 games since signing a seven-year, $44.45 million deal back in 2016. Yandle also hasn’t missed a single game since the 2008-09 season, so him getting healthy scratched would end an impressive streak.
Jets and Habs interested in Pierre-Luc Dubois
Elsewhere, Columbus Blue Jackets’ head coach John Tortorella spoke bluntly about the status of the team’s disgruntled young star, Pierre Luc-Dubois…
“Yeah, he wants out,” Tortorella told “Rothman and Ice” on 97.1 The Fan in Columbus. “He spoke to the team, as we do here. It’s a little bit different than [Artemi Panarin] and [Sergei Bobrovsky] were. This is a 22-year-old kid. It doesn’t happen that often, so he has been honest with the group. I wish he was a little bit more honest as far as reasons why. I still haven’t really gotten to that, but I think he needs to speak on that. I won’t.”
Tortorella went on to speculate that his notoriously tough coaching style could be a factor behind why Dubois wants a fresh start elsewhere…
“Sometimes these players, especially today’s athletes, think, ‘You’re too hard on me, you’re picking on me,’ and this and that. Maybe it’s too hard for him. I don’t know. I haven’t been given a reason why he wants to leave. He certainly hasn’t said it to me that ‘I don’t want to play for you.’
“I think if that’s the reason he should tell me, and he should really basically get in front of it and get up out of here. That’s just the way I think you should do business in this stuff here. There’s no sense of people trying to figure out what’s going on. Let’s get in front of it here and get about our business and try to be the best team we can be.”
At The Athletic, Aaron Portzline talks about how the Blue Jackets could have some major changes ahead of them. Beyond the Dubois trade request, Tortorella’s contract is set to expire at the end of the season and captain Nick Foligno is also eligible to become a free agent. One year later, both goaltenders, Joonas Korpisalo and Elvis Merzlikins, are set to hit the free-agent market.
General manager Jarmo Kekalainen is taking a patient approach with Dubois, who’s signed to a two-year contract, but multiple teams have shown interest, including the Montreal Canadiens and Winnipeg Jets. Given how difficult trades will be to execute this season, it seems likely a Dubois move won’t come until the off-season, if at all.