NHL Rumors: San Jose Sharks, and the Montreal Canadiens

Contracts that might interest the San Jose Sharks

Sheng Peng of San Jose Hockey Now: The San Jose Sharks have over $30 million in projected salary cap space and could be willing to take on a bad contract.

The Sharks should be in the market for leadership, a top-nine forward, and a top-four defenseman. Some potential options could include.

Cam Atkinson – one year left at $5.875 million
Patrik Laine – two years left at $8.7 million
Andrew Mangiapane – one year left at $5.8 million
Ilya Mikheyev – two years left at $4.75 million
Jean-Gabriel Pageau – two years left at $5 million
Brandon Saad – two years left at $4.5 million
Reilly Smith – one year left at $5 million
Justin Faulk – three years left at $6.5 million
Torey Krug – three years left at $6.5 million
Nick Leddy – two years left at $4 million
Dmitry Orlov – one year left at $7.75 million
Jacob Trouba – two years left at $8 million

Would the Montreal Canadiens look to move up from No. 26?

Marco D’Amico of Montreal Hockey Now: The Montreal Canadiens own the 26th pick in the NHL draft that they got from the Sean Monahan trade to the Winnipeg Jets. There has been some speculation that they could use the pick in a deal for a top-six forward like Martin Necas, Trevor Zegras and Nikolaj Ehlers. What if they looked to move up from the No. 26 spot?

The Canadiens took Sam Dickinson and Cole Eiserman out for dinner at the scouting combine. A source said that the Canadiens have liked Eiserman for a while now. Eiserman could fall to the ‘teens.’ They likely need to move in the 10-17 range.

The Canadiens could look to make a similar move to their Kirby Dach and Alex Newhook trades.

If the Canadiens drafted a defenseman like Dickinson, Anton Silayev, Zeev Buium, or Zayne Parekh, it may mean they’d deal one of their defensive prospects like Logan Mailloux or a roster player like Jayden Struble or Arber Xhekaj. Package that with the No. 26 and how far could they move up?