2023/2024 Trade Rumors and Speculation Thread

[tkflames]

Originally Posted by dino7c

its not happening, nobody is giving him a couple million

Agreed...but Edmonton giving him league min and lining him up beside the wonder twins could get ugly.

[The Cobra]

Originally Posted by AustinL_NHL

Honestly, I'm starting to think that there's a good chance that a team (maybe multiple) is willing to just throw $2M-$3M+ to Matthew Phillips for the fun potential that is there.

Wonder if Chicago eyes him up.

Hall - Bedard - Phillips

My oh my

Chicago wants Bedard surrounded by some veteran players with some talent.

Phillips is likely one of the last guys they would pair him with.

If they want a skilled young guy, they would simply go with Richel, who is not a big guy, but twice Phillips size lol.

[ForeverFlameFan]

Welcome to the league, Connor. We paired you up with an injury-prone LW and a guy who is 3 inches shorter than you with no NHL experience

[Moneyhands23]

Originally Posted by The Cobra

Chicago wants Bedard surrounded by some veteran players with some talent.

Phillips is likely one of the last guys they would pair him with.

If they want a skilled young guy, they would simply go with Richel, who is not a big guy, but twice Phillips size lol.

Perry getting 4mil by the hawks this year. That's a good investment to help bedard

[Saqe]

First Foligno, then Perry.

I really like what Chicago is doing with their room to get Bedard on the right track ASAP. Kind of like what Edmonton never did with McDavid and just handed him the room.

[Party Elephant]

Originally Posted by Saqe

First Foligno, then Perry.

I really like what Chicago is doing with their room to get Bedard on the right track ASAP. Kind of like what Edmonton never did with McDavid and just handed him the room.

I'll never forget the obvious one-upsmanship of the whole "youngest captain" saga.

First Crosby became the youngest captain in NHL history. Then the youngest captain to win a cup. Then Colorado decided to one-up Pittsburgh by naming Landeskog captain at a younger age than Crosby. Landeskog's record was short lived as Edmonton said "hold my beer" as they named McDavid captain at 19 years and 266 days old, a whole 20 days younger than Landeskog was when he was named captain. It's like they saw the time to "make history" was running out.

[AustinL_NHL]

Originally Posted by The Cobra

Chicago wants Bedard surrounded by some veteran players with some talent.

Phillips is likely one of the last guys they would pair him with.

If they want a skilled young guy, they would simply go with Richel, who is not a big guy, but twice Phillips size lol.

They are also still well at the stage of acquiring younger players to grow with and play with Bedard, and why not sure some of their unlimited cap space to secure a potential free good quality young player.

Sure it likely won't happen, but it's something that should seriously be considered if any team has significant belief in Phillips potential combined with ridiculous cap space, because in that scenario money/Phillips worth doesn't matter (I.e. Corey Perry's $4M contract).

Free young asset.

[Calgary4LIfe]

All Phillips has to look at is Meloche. He signed for 950K in Calgary. Instead the Flames called-up Gilbert (762.5k), and DeSimone (762.5k). Meloche was younger, more experienced and tougher (arguably - he was known for being a good fighter too).



Unless Phillips' agent is an idiot, I would assume that deal would be an NHL-minimum salary + a much higher AHL salary. Maybe there is a team or two that really believes that Phillips is an NHL'er and will commit more money (and possibly term), but it would surprise me. I am not as high on Phillips as most people here, however. I do think it would be in his best interest to take an NHL minimum salary and just reduce the obstacle of him getting NHL playing time.


Edit: What Phillips should JUMP for is a team that is willing to basically guarantee him NHL playing time on top of his minimum deal. If I am Phillips, that's the #1 priority.

[iLoveLamp]

Originally Posted by Calgary4LIfe

Edit: What Phillips should JUMP for is a team that is willing to basically guarantee him NHL playing time on top of his minimum deal. If I am Phillips, that's the #1 priority.

Have fun in Arizona, Matthew!

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by iLoveLamp

Have fun in Arizona, Matthew!

The tiny arena automatically makes him look bigger, too.

[transplant99]

Originally Posted by Calgary4LIfe

All Phillips has to look at is Meloche. He signed for 950K in Calgary. Instead the Flames called-up Gilbert (762.5k), and DeSimone (762.5k). Meloche was younger, more experienced and tougher (arguably - he was known for being a good fighter too).



Unless Phillips' agent is an idiot, I would assume that deal would be an NHL-minimum salary + a much higher AHL salary. Maybe there is a team or two that really believes that Phillips is an NHL'er and will commit more money (and possibly term), but it would surprise me. I am not as high on Phillips as most people here, however. I do think it would be in his best interest to take an NHL minimum salary and just reduce the obstacle of him getting NHL playing time.


Edit: What Phillips should JUMP for is a team that is willing to basically guarantee him NHL playing time on top of his minimum deal. If I am Phillips, that's the #1 priority.

No team is going to do that.

[Vinny01]

Wheeler is being bought out so 2 of 4 of the Winnipeg guys will have new homes.

[Tkachukwagon]

https://twitter.com/user/status/1674787085398732808

Pretty important day. Interesting to see what happens around the league with RFAs and buyouts.

[The Cobra]

Originally Posted by AustinL_NHL

They are also still well at the stage of acquiring younger players to grow with and play with Bedard, and why not sure some of their unlimited cap space to secure a potential free good quality young player.

Sure it likely won't happen, but it's something that should seriously be considered if any team has significant belief in Phillips potential combined with ridiculous cap space, because in that scenario money/Phillips worth doesn't matter (I.e. Corey Perry's $4M contract).

Free young asset.

I doubt any NHL team considers Philips a "good quality young" player, much less Chicago, who just drafted about 10 guys they likely consider better assets than Phillips.

He's likely a very good AHL player.

But I bet his future lies in Europe.

[Canada 02]

Wheeler will be on the UFA market tomorrow

https://twitter.com/user/status/1674798650583822340

[FBI]

Originally Posted by The Cobra

I doubt any NHL team considers Philips a "good quality young" player, much less Chicago, who just drafted about 10 guys they likely consider better assets than Phillips.

He's likely a very good AHL player.

But I bet his future lies in Europe.

I still would like to see him given a proper chance ie 10 game stint with some rope and see what happens before giving up on him as a career AHLer. He did NOT get a proper chance. 2 games of 7 minutes where he looked decent and hit a post.

[IamNotKenKing]

Originally Posted by mrdonkey

Ignoring the bad faith argument that one has to be a pro scout to criticize a pick, what I don't like when I watch and read about the guy is that he doesn't use his size effectively. His puck protection along the boards is fine, but for a guy with his build he seems very meek and afraid of contact. We've seen these kinds of big, lanky gentle giants pass through the organization before (Jankowski/Colborne), and it was as true in their pro careers as it was when they were drafted. Those are just examples off the top of my head that I'm familiar with watching. That kind of thing generally doesn't change with age, it's just a personality thing that doesn't translate well to NHL success.

His skating is also very awkward and stilted, and doesn't really seem to have good vision for what other players are doing. Those things can be taught, but even if he improves on those he still doesn't seem like a guy with the mental tools and competitive drive to be more than a 3rd line tweener. I saw one analysis compare his upside to Lupul, and that's about as accurate as any I've seen.

The thing is, this is not necessarily accurate though, nor can anyone say it is, UNTIL his upside is realised. He may be Lupul, he may be Zacha, he may be Benn, he may be Zubrus, he may be Roope Hintz or Brock Nelson. All of which I have seen scouts have compare him to.
He may Colborne (hopefully without concussion issues), but NO ONE knows yet.

[Reggie Dunlop]

If by "Chicago" you mean either the Wolves or the Rockford Ice Hogs, then yeah, they might be interested in Matthew Phillips.

The Wolves will be operating as an independent this season, and have been known to load up on AHL all stars. That's my guess as a Phillips landing spot.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by FBI

I still would like to see him given a proper chance ie 10 game stint with some rope and see what happens before giving up on him as a career AHLer. He did NOT get a proper chance. 2 games of 7 minutes where he looked decent and hit a post.

He's Brad Moran. I still think that guy could have made it.

[gvitaly]

Originally Posted by memphusk

Is Brodie that bad now?

He really isn't bad. He had a slightly down year. He's still a top D in the league. Leafs fans were playing with buying him out because of his contract it would result in a $0 caphit this season and a $2.5M a year after.

Also Jfresh had him in the top 10 defensive defenseman rankings. I believe he and Tanev were in either the 2/3 or 3/4 spots league wide.