Known as one of the best reporters to break down trade rumors, Elliotte Friedman has quite a flair when it comes to talking about trades or the free agent market. His nose rarely fails him. On his latest podcast, he admitted that Dougie Hamilton was reportedly offered a similar deal to Torey Krug, one that was seven years and $45.5 million.
On the free-agent market, the Montreal Canadiens and Toronto Maple Leafs would be very interested in getting their hands on the defenseman by being creative in order to respect the salary cap and offer an interesting contract for the giant-sized and very talented defenseman on the offensive side.
With the acquisition and signed long-term deal for Seth Jones, the Chicago Blackhawks are out of the picture. The same would be true for the Philadelphia Flyers, who acquired Ryan Ellis. The Seattle Kraken has plenty of room on the payroll, but the club is not close to winning a Stanley Cup.
It remains to be seen now if the CH will have the ammunition to offer him a contract worthy of his talent. At the same time, many rumors have Marc Bergevin targeting defenseman David Savard. It would be unlikely that the CH's big man would be able to sign both defensemen with the salaries they command respectively. It will be one or the other, but not both.
