TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun has the latest on the trade interest around the Canucks’ Kiefer Sherwood, the Senators scouring the market for forward help, if Morgan Geekie’s breakout season has him on Team Canada’s radar for the Olympics, and how teams are handling the NHL’s new LTIR rules for the playoffs.
Reda: On a team whose playoff hopes are fading, Kiefer Sherwood has been a rock star and maybe worth more to the Vancouver Canucks in the trade market than on the ice. So, what’s the chatter? Here’s our Insider Pierre LeBrun.
Pierre, on a pace to shatter his goals total for a single season, what are you hearing about Sherwood on the market right now?
LeBrun: Yeah, so ever since the Canucks let other teams know that they were willing to listen on their pending UFAs, he’s the name that has generated the most interest. That’s not surprising, Gino. His $1.5 million cap hit alone is a big reason why a lot of contenders would be interested in that. But as you say, not only is he scoring goals, but his style of play – all things that make him appealing to a contender. So I’m told there is lots of interest in Kiefer Sherwood.
But I also know that Vancouver is not in a rush, that they want to get a full read on the market and understand what’s out there for them. Among the teams that I believe have inquired, one is the Minnesota Wild. That makes sense, they’ve been out there looking at top-six options. I think the Montreal Canadiens have at the very least picked up the phone to see what was going on there. But there are several other teams, given again, all the appealing aspects of Kiefer Sherwood.
I will say this too. I think that, in a perfect world, the Canucks get a young player back if they ever decide to go down this road as opposed to just a futures deal. Not easy to do with a pending UFA, but that’s something else to keep in mind as well.
Reda: Alright, from a seller to a buyer in the Canadian market. The Sens just got Brady Tkachuk back last week. They’re right on the playoff bubble now. How anxious are they, Pierre, to add and reward that room for how far they’ve come and the potential upside this year?
LeBrun: I think they really are internally happy with the way the team was able to survive without Brady Tkachuk and more than survive as you say, Gino. I don’t know if anxious is the word, but I will say my sense is that GM Steve Staios is doing his due diligence.
We know what the teams that are out there that have told the rest of the league they’re ready to listen, right? And my understanding is the Senators have checked in with all those teams to see and to get a sense of the market.
Darren Dreger mentioned this during a Senators intermission last Friday, Gino, and I totally agree with Dregs that I think we need to downplay a narrative that’s been built up about Ottawa taking a “big swing.” They’re looking, they want to add to their top six or top nine, but I think it’s more about hitting more singles.
You look at a lot of the clever moves that Steve Staios has made over the last year, and a lot of them are singles that have really helped the team. That’s not to say you wouldn’t be interested in something bigger. But I just think if you’re going to play the odds here, I’d say it’s more, ‘Hey, is there something that could help that’s not a blockbuster, but that could still help our top six.’ I think that’s more what they’re looking at between now and March 6.
Reda: The singles are a lot more comfortable in terms of being successful with them than the big ball.
Pierre, just when Team Canada felt it was getting a handle on its roster for the Olympics, guys keep stepping up. Now, we’ve talked a lot about the kids making their cases – Celebrini, Bedard have been drawing a ton of attention.
How about a vet, Morgan Geekie, ripping up the league on a career pace for best in goals, tied with [Nathan] MacKinnon for the league lead with 20? What’s the talk about him right now?
LeBrun: I mean, what a story, right? I mean, 20 goals entering Tuesday night. And you know what? I can tell you, first of all, because I wasn’t even sure until I got it confirmed to me from a Team Canada source, but Morgan Geekie is on the IOC long list for Canada. So that’s the first step, right? You got to be on that list of 90-plus players to even be in the conversation, so good for Morgan Geekie that that he is on that list.
But I think after that it gets hard and my sense of it is that he’s still a long shot and that’s through no fault of his own. But yes, he’s scoring a ton of goals, but is he really going to crack Canada’s top six? As you probably know it, Gino, no he’s not. So, then it’s like, what would his role be then otherwise on the Team Canada lineup, and you know that you want to have guys who can kill penalties and do this, while he doesn’t kill penalties.
Listen, the mere fact that you and I are having this conversation is hats off to Morgan Geekie because he’s really forced his way on the radar, but my sense of it right now is that he still remains a long shot.
Reda: Pierre, lots changed on the financial side in the league this year. Big jump in the salary cap, new rules around the playoff cap, LTIR. How are teams trying to figure this all out?
LeBrun: One of the real big items here is what happens between the LTIR at the trade deadline and injured players. Now as you know, in the past, if you were a player that wasn’t going to come back until the playoffs, the silver lining for teams is they could use your full salary before the trade deadline. That’s how, for example, the Florida Panthers were able to go get Brad Marchand at the deadline last year. Now the rules have changed.
There’s a playoff cap, but on top of that, there are specific rules about LTIR cap space, and I’ll give you an example. Let’s stick with Florida. Sasha Barkov hopes to come back for the playoffs, but there’s no guarantee of it. So, what do you do if you’re Florida at the trade deadline, Gino? And the way the rules are set up now in this new system, the Panthers do not have access to that full $10 million cap hit from Sasha Barkov because they’re keeping the door open that he might be back.
And I think that’s frustrating for a lot of teams because they’re like, well, what if he doesn’t come back? But I checked with the NHL and those are the rules. If you’re keeping the door open for a player to come back, you can’t access more than $3.6 million of LTI cap space at the trade deadline, not the full cap value. That’s something significant to keep an eye on.
Reda: A lot of teams took advantage of the old rules, you could bet behind closed doors. Right now, they’re trying to figure out how do we best take advantage of these new rules as well. That’s still to be determined.
Thanks for this, Pierre. The full version of Insider Trading with Pierre, Dregs and CJ is coming up later today on SportsCentre.
