Rumor round up for what little is going on

The dog days of summer are in full effect, where apparently all the NHL managers decided to all cut out to their cottages way before normal this time around. There hasn’t been a trade made across the whole league in almost a month.

Let’s make some chicken salad and touch base on what little has been out there semi-recently. It’s probably a fool’s errand to attempt to keep up with the rumor mill now anyways — Kyle Dubas trades have had the tendency to come out of left field and be worked with teams that weren’t always expected or foreshadowed by media reports, but at this time of year you can’t be too choosy for NHL news and notes.

Resolution in the cases of Bryan Rust and Rickard Rakell is still being sought. The team probably won’t want to have the veterans feeling like they’re waiting for the other shoe to drop all year with a trade, it would be best for all to get things sorted out. The return will be a key sticking point. Getting a couple of late first round picks doesn’t always work out — seriously, San Jose has nothing to show in their lineup for trading Tomas Hertl, Nashville has nothing currently to show for dealing Mattias Ekholm more than two years ago. Even Chicago now 3+ years after trading Brandon Hagel away are still waiting for any part of that return to permanently settle into their lineup. It usually takes somewhere around forever (and sometimes never) for picks received for players to turn into NHL help.

Getting a young, talented player for Rust or Rakell would be the best case scenario for Dubas and the Pens. There isn’t as much uncertainty, and obviously the timeline of getting an impact made in the NHL is so much quicker. On the flip side of the coin, the other team involved in trade talks aren’t going to be eager to send away top young players that should be able to crack the big leagues soon. That’s probably a lot of the current impasse that exists, as Pittsburgh looks to see if one of the suitors will blink and offer up the type of package with the kind of assets that they want.

It can be dangerous to speak in absolutes, but I’m honestly surprised that’s not even higher. Gotta be like 85-90% odds that Jarry is with the Penguins to start next season. All the goaltending chairs have been filled around the league. If you’re a team like Edmonton that needs consistency and steady play, getting a guy who had the opposite of those traits last year and carries a big-for-a-goalie contract for three years isn’t going to be the play. At least coming into the year.

Probably to be expected and a needless reminder to enjoy the ride this year. Here’s to hoping that Malkin can stay healthy, have fun and provide a few more moments. That game against Buffalo last year was one of the more fun games in perhaps the whole Crosby/Malkin era.

Somewhat older of a nugget at this point for a one week old piece of news, but some may not have seen it and we can close the loop on this. Even though it’ll probably pop up in the media at some point — since news or reports or mentioning of Mario Lemieux making yet another one of his classic comebacks will always draw attention.

But the tl’dr version of the story, if you haven’t kept up or think you might have missed some twist or turn seems to be:

1. news comes out that Fenway Sports is interested in selling a small minority percentage of the Penguins to raise capital (common ownership strategy)
2. rumblings exist that Lemieux, Ron Burkle and David Morehouse want to talk about buying back a majority stake in the Penguins
3. FSG comes out and says they aren’t interested in selling a majority stake
4. Turns out the Lemieux offer or proposal is close to what they received for selling (slightly over that$900m), but franchise values make the Pens worth about double of that

Could there be some sort of middle ground? First of all, the NHL reportedly wants $2 billion for the next expansion franchise — which means there is no way they can allow an existing franchise (especially one with a little bit of prestige, and a good arena situation like the Penguins) to sell for about half of that.

Just spitballing here, but what about a middle ground where the Lemieux Group spends that billy but gets a 51-60% stake in the Pens. FSG wins because they get all their money back, and still have a huge chunk of equity in an NHL team where franchise values are going up, up, up. It might not be the best arrangement for someone like Burkle (who would be buying back a partial amount of an asset for a much increased price than what he literally just sold the same property for — usually not a winning strategy or how billionaires operate) but hey, if they want in it’s going to take a lot more than what’s out there so far.

Of course, a deal so complex isn’t going to be solved in a short paragraph and the status quo will likely remain for a while longer. But until FSG is able to go through with completing a partial sale, the specter of Lemieux will always be out there somewhere in the minds of many..

Motion to have it happen soon then? We could all use the activity at this point of the summer.