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Rumor mill: Tony DeAngelo could be traded (again)

Since the start of his career, Tony DeAngelo has become accustomed to packing his bags. The defenseman has been traded four times, and last summer the Flyers bought him outright, so he returned to the Hurricanes this year.

On the ice, he’s a good offensive defenseman… but off the ice, it’s his attitude that seems to be the problem.

And it looks like his second stay in Carolina could be a very short one. In fact, according to Elliotte Friedman, the imminent return of Brett Pesce has the Canes looking to trade a defenseman…

And DeAngelo’s name is the one that’s been circulating the most.

At a one-year salary of $1.675 million, DeAngelo doesn’t have a very imposing contract, so a team that needs help on the blue line could give him a shot.

But he still needs to be prepared to deal with potential problems in the defensive end and, possibly, in the dressing room.

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Flames could trade a defenseman

If DeAngelo isn’t the envy of teams in need of a defenseman, the Calgary Flames could be busy in the coming weeks. The club is off to a horrendous start this season with a 3-7-1 record, so contract talks have ended with aspiring autonomous players.

And clearly, it looks like three defensemen could be traded in the coming weeks if things don’t settle down: the names of Noah Hanifin, Chris Tanev and Nikita Zadorov are likely to attract attention if the Flames don’t get back on track.

All three are at the end of their contracts and earn $4.95 million, $4.5 million and $3.75 million respectively this year.

We’re talking about three defensemen who can certainly solidify the top-4 of a good defensive brigade, and we know there’s no shortage of interest in such players.

Names to keep an eye on.

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The Oilers will have to sort out their problems

In addition to the Flames, Alberta’s other team isn’t doing much better. With a 2-7-1 record, the Oilers are already wondering if the playoffs are out of reach.

It’s still early days… but the victories will have to start piling up, and they’ll have to do so quickly.

Clearly, the Oilers have two big problems right now: both goalies (Stuart Skinner and Jack Campbell) are real sieves, and they’re lacking good defensemen with a certain physical element to their game.

That’s why Elliotte Friedman wonders if the club couldn’t strike a deal to solve both problems at once.

It’s going to be tough to find two affordable guys to solve these problems, but maybe Jake Allen could be an option for the Oilers. Could they have interest in a guy like David Savard at the same time, even if he’ll miss a few more weeks?

Meanwhile, young Dylan Holloway isn’t getting any playing time, seemingly restricted to a role on the fourth line. Perhaps he could be an intriguing bargaining chip…

We’ll have to keep an eye on it, but the NHL already seems to be buzzing with activity. The next few weeks should be interesting.

Breaking news

– Juraj Slafkovský is still a big topic of discussion in Montreal today.

– Auston Matthews scored another hat trick tonight in a wild comeback for his team. He now has more goals than the Sharks this season.

– He really doesn’t look like a great leader these days…

– Filip Hronek makes the Canucks look good.