Ice Breakers: Updates on Spencer Knight, Nick Paul, Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Tyler Motte
Frank Seravalli was back with news and nuggets from around the NHL in Friday’s edition of Ice Breakers on the Daily Faceoff Show:
> There was a lot of chatter in NHL front offices this week about the availability of Florida Panthers netminder Spencer Knight. Would the Panthers be willing to move Knight to land a missing piece at the trade deadline?
We checked in and the answer to that is an unequivocal “No.”
Sources say teams have inquired about Knight this season but have repeatedly been rebuffed.
On the one hand, that may seem like a painfully obvious no-brainer. Duh. Of course he’s not available. Knight, 20, has arguably been the NHL’s most highly touted goalie prospect since Carey Price. Jaroslav Askarov (No. 11 in 2020 by Nashville) is the only goaltender to be picked higher than Knight (No. 13 in 2019) in the first round over the past 10 years.
On the other hand, opposing teams analyzed that there might be an opening there to pry out Knight. The Panthers have four more years of Sergei Bobrovsky at $10 million per season. Florida is an authentic Stanley Cup contender, maybe one significant addition away, and Knight could bring back that coveted defenseman to bolster the blueline.
It’s not happening. The Panthers view Knight as a franchise centerpiece. They gave him assurances last year when he signed, leaving Boston College, that he would not be traded.
The truth is, the Cats also might need him this year. Bobrovsky has struggled of late. After reverting to Vezina form with a 20-3-3 record and .925 save percentage over his first 28 appearances, Bobrovsky has just an .890 save percentage over his past 10.
Knight has been in the AHL since late January. He is scheduled to be brought back to the NHL early next week but, barring an injury, the Panthers will have roster moves to make in order to make that happen.
> So, where did all of that come from?
The belief is the Arizona Coyotes and Panthers were engaged in conversation around the holidays on bringing South Florida native Jakob Chychrun home.
The ask from the Coyotes was believed to include Knight as part of the package. Clearly, that did not happen.
What we can glean from that is the Coyotes are looking for a goaltender on the trade market.
The Boston Bruins are another team that has expressed interest in Chychrun. Could 23-year-old Jeremy Swayman be part of that proposed transaction?
Swayman doesn’t have the same pedigree as Knight, of course, but he has a track record of success in the NHL. He’s also been lights out since the Tuukka Rask experiment bombed, posting a 6-0-1 mark with a sparkling .967 save percentage since Feb. 12.
The Bruins have been longing for help on the left side of their blueline. Linus Ullmark is signed for four more years in net. Boston could find an inexpensive veteran to ride with Ullmark for the playoffs if it meant getting help there. Would someone like Martin Jones work from Philadelphia? (Don Sweeney previously traded for Jones in 2015 and flipped him to San Jose.)
It wouldn’t be a surprise to see Arizona potentially target one of the other goaltenders on the market to position themselves for next season while they talk extension with their diamond in the rough, Karel Vejmelka.
> Ottawa Senators pending UFA forward Nick Paul is ranked No. 13 on this week’s Trade Targets 🎯 board for good reason.
Sources say there has been little contact between the Senators and Paul’s camp in recent weeks and he is leaning toward testing the market in free agency.
The Senators made an offer of 3 years x $2 million in early January, and the two sides remain a considerable ways apart. Can they bridge the gap over the next 17 days?
Perhaps the better question is: Can the Sens afford to lose him? Paul, who turns 27 the day before the March-21 deadline, is the Sens’ Swiss Army Knife. He brings an important element to a skilled and young Senators forward corps.
There would be significant interest in Paul from contending teams as a rental, with no salary cap gymnastics required with his $1.35-million AAV. Paul is an ideal third-line player on a top team, but he’s been playing a top-six role in Ottawa, averaging north of 17 minutes per night. He can also move from the wing to center, where he has taken more than 1,500 draws in his career at a 50.3-percent win rate.
> The Carolina Hurricanes became the first team in 14 years to successfully acquire a player via offer sheet last summer when they pried Jesperi Kotkaniemi out of Montreal.
They’re now working hard to keep him. Sources say the Hurricanes met recently with Kotkaniemi’s representation and had productive talks on the framework of a long-term contract extension.
Technically, Kotkaniemi is due a $6.1-million qualifying offer this summer as per his one-year offer sheet at that price, but both sides recognize he hasn’t played to that level. It was simply a mechanism to acquire the player.
Kotkaniemi started slow in Carolina but has since fit in nicely with 11 goals and 11 assists for 22 points, one goal away from setting a new career high in 25 or so fewer games.
The Hurricanes would like to get Kotkaniemi signed with the max eight-year term, but that might be a tad too expensive for them.
Would a six or seven-year deal in the $4- to $4.5-million range work for both sides?
Carolina might be paying more to start, but Kotkaniemi would have room to grow and bring cost certainty, providing a bit of insurance in case it can’t afford to keep Vincent Trocheck.
> With so much attention on potential trade chips Brock Boeser and J.T. Miller, there has been comparatively little focus on the only player the Vancouver Canucks must absolutely make a decision on before the March-21 deadline: Tyler Motte.
Sources say new Canucks GM Patrik Allvin and Motte’s representation, Vancouver-based Rich Evans of Wasserman Sports, have met, but have not held substantive talks on a contract extension to stay in Vancouver.
Motte, who turns 27 next week, has proven he can reliably drive a line in the Canucks’ bottom six. He has scored 13 goals over his last 82 games. And he’s part of Vancouver’s first penalty-killing unit on a team that desperately needs more killing help.
There is seemingly the framework of what a market value deal for Motte could look like if it were to come together over the next 17 days: See Sean Kuraly‘s 4 years x $2.5 million deal in Columbus.
Does this new Vancouver regime philosophically want to commit that amount of salary cap space to bottom-six players? That type of spending (Jay Beagle, Antoine Roussel) really hurt during the Jim Benning era.
Only one thing is clear: If the Canucks and Motte are unable to come to an agreement on a new before the deadline, he will be playing elsewhere on March 22 and beyond.
The Canucks know they are not in a position to keep Motte and allow him to walk in the offseason for nothing.