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Canadiens working on Gallagher trade, Islanders listening to offers for Mathew Barzal

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Canadiens working on Gallagher trade, Islanders listening to offers for Mathew Barzal

Around the NHL: Canadiens working on Gallagher trade, Islanders listening to offers for Mathew Barzal

Welcome back to another edition of Around the NHL, as Mitch Marner and the Vegas Golden Knights carry a 2-1 series lead into Game 4 on Tuesday night.

Marner put on a show in Game 3, scoring the fastest hat-trick in Stanley Cup Final history, and he’s the favourite to win the Conn Smythe Trophy at this juncture.

The trade market has heated up in a major way over the last couple of weeks, as many insiders feel with the salary cap jumping up $8.5 million, this summer is going to be very trade heavy, and it’s all going to start in a couple of weeks from the NHL Draft in Buffalo.

Let’s jump into all the rumblings, here’s the very latest from around the NHL:

Canadiens trying to facilitate Brendan Gallagher trade

Brendan Gallagher made one thing very clear once the Montreal Canadiens were eliminated, he’s going to be moving on this offseason.

Gallagher was a healthy scratch towards the end of the season, and during the Stanley Cup Playoffs, only played in three of Montreal’s 19 postseason games. During the regular season, Gallagher averaged a career-low 12:21 of ice-time per game, and recorded seven goals and 23 points in 77 games.

The pesky forward has one year left on his contract at $6.5 million AAV, and his no-movement clause has changed to a six-team no-trade list. Gallagher went as far to say that Vancouver would be a great place to play during last media scrum, and according to The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta, Gallagher’s agent and the Canadiens are working together to try and facilitate a deal.

 “I think they’re going to explore moving him first, and if that’s an avenue that they can pursue and go in that direction, I think they’d rather do that than go the buyout route,” stated Pagnotta on a recent episode of Daily Faceoff Live.

“It’s an option, but I don’t think they want to execute it. I think they’d rather go the trade avenue and go from there. We know we mentioned Vancouver, and that would be a good spot for him. We’ll see if the Canucks reciprocate in terms of interest. We know what they’re doing, we know they’re going through a rebuild, and Jake DeBrusk is, as far as I know, still wanting to go to a contender and doesn’t want to be part of a rebuild.”
DeBrusk has been on the trade block throughout last season and considering the Canadiens tried to acquire Matthew Knies, it makes sense for them to add a power-forward on left wing. Montreal will need to add something to this trade package in order to get the Canucks to budge, but certainly keep an eye on these two teams leading into the NHL Draft.

New York Islanders listening to Mat Barzal trade offers

Barzal had a decent season this past year, posting 72 points in 81 games, averaging just over 20 minute of ice-time per game. He’s signed through the 2031 season at $9.1 million AAV, and owns a 22-team no-trade clause. Barzal’s only been a point-per-game player twice in his career, so perhaps the Islanders feel it’s time to shift their resources and re-tool on the fly.

There’s been several teams linked to interest already, including the Los Angeles Kings, Seattle Kraken, Anaheim Ducks, and San Jose Sharks. The Kings lost Anze Kopitar to retirement, so they have a huge hole to fill down the middle of their lineup. The Ducks are an interesting team as they have Mason McTavish on the trade block, meanwhile the Sharks are looking to add this offseason, and have a wealth of young talent they could dangle in trade talks.

As for the Maple Leafs, they don’t make a ton of sense as a Barzal suitor, and don’t be shocked to see the Islanders move the speedy forward to the Western Conference.

Quick hits from around the NHL

  • Milan Lucic announced his retirement on Sunday after 17 seasons.
  • Detroit Red Wings continue to listen to Dylan Larkin trade offers after news broke last week that he’s requested a trade. Minnesota, New Jersey, and Vegas are the early heavy favourites for Larkin’s destination.
  • Chris MacFarland has taken over in Nashville, and his retool this summer could include moving Jonathan Marchessault.
  • Andrei Vasilevskiy won the Vezina Trophy after he was pranked by the Tampa Bay Lightning and local police.
  • Connor McDavid was surprised on the golf course by his family after winning his fifth Ted Lindsay Award.
  • Besides Gallagher, don’t be surprised to see the Canadiens move goaltender Samuel Montembeault this offseason.
  • Goaltender Connor Ingram will hit the free-agent market and could be an option for Ottawa.

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