NHL Trade Rumors: Latest Rumblings Surrounding Penguins, Coyotes and More

The NHL trade deadline isn’t until March in the 2014-15 season, but there are still plenty of rumors circulating around the league. 

The Pittsburgh Penguins have an opportunity to challenge for a Stanley Cup title this year and may look to add some more firepower, the Carolina Hurricanes could move one of their streaky players, and the Arizona Coyotes are looking for answers.

With that in mind, here is a look at the latest trade rumors from around the league.

Pittsburgh Penguins

Gene J. Puskar/Associated Press

Pierre LeBrun of ESPN.com passed along an update on Pittsburgh’s roster plans:

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The Pens don’t have anything in the hopper now, but when the time is right, we’re told the plan is to try and add a top-six winger to play with Evgeni Malkin. Blake Comeau has done a nice job of late on Malkin’s line with Pascal Dupuis, but in reality he’s a bottom-six forward. Pittsburgh eventually will look for an upgrade for that spot.

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Considering Pittsburgh is first in the league in goals per game at 4.1 and first in the league in power-play percentage at 41.3, this is a frightening proposition for teams around the Eastern Conference. The Penguins are goal-scoring machines, and adding another potentially elite piece to the mix alongside Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby seems unfair.

LeBrun touches on this, but if Pittsburgh is going to make a trade, it will likely have to give up one of its defensive assets.

The Penguins have Scott Harrington, Derrick Pouliot, Philip Samuelsson and Brian Dumoulin all in the fold as potential future contributors who could be moved. The goal in every hockey game is to outscore the competition, and if Pittsburgh adds another top-six winger to the fold, it will be very difficult to outscore the Penguins every night.

Carolina Hurricanes

Karl B DeBlaker/Associated Press

In the same piece, LeBrun notes the following regarding the Carolina Hurricanes and Alexander Semin:

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Clearly there isn’t a team in the league that would take on his contract, which has three more years after this season at $7 million each.

"The only [way] they can move him is to eat like 40 percent of that deal," said one Eastern Conference NHL team executive on Tuesday. 

"

Semin has already been a healthy scratch in multiple games this season, so it’s not as if he is lighting it up for the Hurricanes. He doesn’t have a goal and only has two assists in nine games, which is just not enough production for a winger set to make significant money.

Coach Bill Peters didn’t seem pleased with Semin’s play after an unsportsmanlike penalty in a recent loss to the Vancouver Canucks, per NHL.com: “He'd played enough. I don't think we need to take undisciplined penalties when we're trying to dig out of a hole, right? When you're in a hole, quit digging.”

Gary Wiepert/Associated Press

It will be interesting to see if the Hurricanes eventually swallow some of that contract and try to move him. At 3-6-2 in the early going, they are likely not going to make any noise this season in the playoff hunt and could look to stockpile young assets in an effort to rebuild for the future. 

Perhaps Carolina could do just that with a contender trying to catch lightning in a bottle down the stretch with Semin.

Arizona Coyotes

Karl B DeBlaker/Associated Press

Damien Cox of Sportsnet.ca noted the following in a piece that explores whether the Arizona Coyotes should start rebuilding with an eye toward the future: “Keith Yandle’s name is already coming up in trade rumours. Veterans like Martin Hanzal, Sam Gagner, Boedker and Lauri Korpikoski have value. Maybe Mike Smith, too.”

The Coyotes are 5-6-1 and, while there is still an incredibly large amount of hockey remaining on the schedule, could miss the postseason this year. The crux of Cox’s piece is that the team is simply not drawing fans to the arena (last in NHL attendance in 2013-14 with 13,775 fans a game) and may need to retool going forward.

Rick Scuteri/Associated Press

Essentially, it may be time to completely start over and look for a gate-drawing superstar. 

Doing so may require trading someone like Yandle or even a number of the veterans. Young players and draft picks are incredibly valuable in the rebuilding process, and it is now up to Arizona to acquire both.

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