10th pick for Martin Necas?

Hurricanes general manager Eric Tulsky revealed to TSN’s Pierre LeBrun that he’s willing to match any hostile offers from other NHL teams for Martin Necas.

LeBrun also reported that the Hurricanes had received an offer that was exactly what they were expecting in return, but there were no further details than that.

A few hours later, LeBrun revealed on TSN that he believes the leading team to acquire Necas would be the Buffalo Sabres.

Cont’d: “…if not, I think Carolina is ready to keep him, they’re not going to force a deal if no one is willing to answer that price. I will say this, I think the Buffalo Sabres could be that team, they’re among the teams bidding hard on Necas, they have a lot of interest”

– NHL Watcher (@NHL_Watcher) June 26, 2024

A little later, Daily Faceoff ‘s Frank Seravalli joins the fray with another striking Necas rumour. According to his information, it would appear that the Devils would be willing to trade the 10th overall pick in the next draft to acquire Necas.

If the Hurricanes are satisfied with the offer, Seravalli believes the deal will be made official on draft night.

He has also identified several other teams that would still be in the running. We’re talking about Columbus, Calgary, Boston, Chicago, Detroit and Nashville.

Predators interested in Stamkos

Speaking of Nashville, it would appear that the Predators are genuinely interested in signing forward Steven Stamkos on the free agent market.

That’s what Pierre LeBrun reported on TSN.

Cont’d: “Who have serious interest in Steven Stamkos, they need an offensive upgrade for that team and I believe Barry Trotz their GM will want to be in the mix if Steven Stamkos goes to market, obviously Steven Stamkos would like to remain in Tampa if possible”

– NHL Watcher (@NHL_Watcher) June 26, 2024

The Lightning are reportedly still trying to come up with an offer that might convince him to stay in Tampa Bay, but it will have to go up by Monday or Stamkos will become an uncompensated free agent.

Teams with more room under the salary cap will be able to offer Stamkos a much better salary than the Lightning, who already have a number of hefty contracts in their organization.

The Predators are obviously not the only ones in the race to sign Stamkos, but LeBrun is confident that Barry Trotz would like to acquire the two-time Stanley Cup champion.

A deal is brewing between Vancouver and Chicago

Back to Frank Seravalli, who this time tells us about a deal that should soon be made official in the NHL.

We’re talking about a deal that would allow the Canucks to free up space under the salary cap.

Ilya Mikheyev hasn’t formally agreed to waive his no-trade clause yet to go to #Blackhawks, but provided he does, teams have agreement in place on a trade:

To #Blackhawks: Ilya Mikheyev, 2nd Rd Pick, pending UFA Sam Lafferty

To #Canucks: 4th Rd Pick@DailyFaceoff

– Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) June 27, 2024

Vancouver would send Ilya Mikheyev, a second-round pick and Sam Lafferty’s negotiating rights to the Blackhawks in return for a fourth-round pick.

Mikheyev has two years remaining on his contract, which is worth $4.75 million on the payroll.

The Canucks currently have just over $12 million in cap space, but must find a way to replace Elias Lindholm, Nikita Zadorov and Dakota Joshua for next season.

Overtime

– A good attitude.

I asked Tij Iginla about the possibility of playing in a pressure environment like Montreal. He says he would love to play in front of such a passionate fanbase. Says he has met with the @CanadiensMTL a couple of times and he believes the talks went well @thesickpodcasts pic.twitter.com/JrXRZL5MR6

– Tony Marinaro (@TonyMarinaro) June 26, 2024