Which Northern market could become attractive for players?
It’s a tough time for Canadian NHL teams. For some, like the Vancouver Canucks and Calgary Flames, it’s the dark days of rebuilding, while others like the Toronto Maple Leafs look to push back into contention. The Montreal Canadiens, meanwhile, are pushing to win the Stanley Cup with an impressive young core.
Yet every team has key American players. The Canucks and the Ottawa Senators have even lost those talents, who hoped to play south of the border. With the current tensions between Connor Hellebuyck and the Winnipeg Jets, those noises are only getting louder.
On a recent episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, co-hosts Tyler Yaremchuk and Carter Hutton broke down Canadian teams’ fears about losing more players and which Canadian or Northern USA markets would attract top American talent.
Tyler Yaremchuk: One of the questions we got was: It seems like every player’s preferred destination is the Florida Panthers, Vegas Golden Knights, Tampa Bay Lightning, Dallas Stars, etc. Which Canadian or Northern U.S. team could emerge as a top option?
Well, to be fair, we saw a little bit of this. Like, the Montreal Canadiens are going to be a top option. Chris Kreider became a free agent and chose Montreal. I know he’s not a superstar, but he picked Montreal. Connor Hellebuyck would probably accept a trade to the Buffalo Sabres. Why? Because they’re competitive. I think for some guys, yeah, they want to be warm; they want to be in these situations where they can be a little bit more anonymous on their days off when they’re out and about around town. But some guys still won’t scoff at the idea of going to a cold northern market if it gives them a chance to win.
Carter Hutton: Yeah, I agree. I think my pick right now is obviously Montreal. With how they’re built for the future, you’re protected. The second part of that, like the Canadian-Northern USA team, I think is the Minnesota Wild. I think Minnesota is a market where you want to go to right now. There’s so much potential; they can win. They have young, good goaltending, Quinn Hughes for now, and I think that would be the market where players want to go. You’d think a few years ago the Detroit Red Wings would have been one of those teams, but it’s changed so much with this whole Dylan Larkin saga and the way that the team is built.
You can catch the full breakdown of which Canadian and Northern USA teams could be attractive to American stars, and the rest of the recent episodes of Daily Faceoff LIVE, right here…
