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Over the Boards

Rosen's mailbag - Jan. 13, 2016

Wednesday, 01.13.2016 / 3:00 AM

By Dan Rosen - NHL.com Senior Writer / Over the Boards blog

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Over the Boards blog
Rosen's mailbag - Jan. 13, 2016

Here is the Jan. 13 edition of Dan Rosen's weekly mailbag, which will run every Wednesday in the Over the Boards blog during the 2015-16 NHL season. If you have a question, tweet it to @drosennhl and use #OvertheBoards.

Let's get to it:

Some have written that John Scott should bow out of the All-Star Game. Do NHL rules mandate a suspension if he doesn't go? -- @hanesup

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By the rules, Scott would be just like any player voted in or selected to go in that he would be forced to sit one game before or after the All-Star break if he bows out. However, as the NHL does with all cases, it considers all the circumstances involved -- for Scott that would mean how he got selected for the All-Star Game in the first place. It was a fan vote that got him in. He didn't ask for any of this. He seemed somewhat embarrassed by it too. With that in mind, my feeling is it would be highly unlikely that the NHL would force him to sit out one game if he were to bow out in order to have a more deserving player take his spot. But that doesn't seem like it's going to happen. This very likely will be Scott's only chance to participate in All-Star Weekend and to play in an All-Star Game. He should go. He should enjoy himself. He should bring his family, take pictures, yuck it up, and enjoy every last second of it because it really is a dream come true.

Why do they take a dry cut in the American Hockey League before overtime but not in the NHL? -- @NickShaffer28

The NHL implemented the dry scrape in the time between the end of regulation and the start of overtime last season because the League's general managers felt a cleaner ice sheet would lead to better plays and eventually more goals in overtime, which at the time was 4-on-4. They scrapped the scrape about a quarter of the way through the season because the feeling among the GMs was it was taking too long, it was sucking the life and momentum out of the game, and it wasn't producing better plays and more goals. It was yet another result that motivated the GMs to finally agree to 3-on-3 overtime.

Which team toward the bottom of the standings possesses the best chance to turn its season around? -- @k_corpstein

Let's go right down to the very bottom of the standings, right to the Edmonton Oilers. I'm intrigued. I've been pounding my drum for the Oilers in this mailbag pretty much all season. I'm not going to stop now. Progress is slow, but with the return of forward Nail Yakupov and the eventual return of forward Connor McDavid and defenseman Oscar Klefbom, the Oilers have a chance to make some noise in the second half, especially because they're in the Pacific Division. They'd have to finish second or third in the division to get in because the wild cards are definitely coming from the Central. I'm so curious to see how this team will be when McDavid and Klefbom get back in the lineup. The Oilers haven't had their full lineup all season. Remember, forward Jordan Eberle was out when McDavid was playing. He came back after McDavid got hurt. I also think general manager Peter Chiarelli is going to make a trade to improve the defense. It might take a forward out of the lineup to do so, but it'd be worth it. I'm so curious about the Oilers and I still think they have a run in them.

What kind of contract will the Devils give Kyle Palmieri if he continues to produce at the same rate? -- @AlexGrablauskas

He'll get what he deserves, which is a hefty raise from the $1.6 million he's making now on a long-term contract that should give him security in New Jersey but won't break the bank on the Devils' cap. He doesn't have all the power because he's scheduled to be a restricted free agent, not an unrestricted free agent. He has salary arbitration rights. It wouldn't surprise me if he moved into the $4-5 million per season range. I look at Craig Smith as being a reasonable comparison even though he's 26, so two years older than Palmieri. Smith signed a five-year, $21.25 million contract last summer. I'm guessing here, but I think Palmieri could fall in that range too. He also could fall into the range of the six-year, $25 million contract Devils defenseman Adam Larsson signed last summer.

We see that Seth Jones and Ryan Johansen was a BIG blockbuster in the NHL media. Is there any chance we may see another? -- @ccrruuuuzz 

The Jones-Johansen trade was big in the NHL media because it was a big trade. It was a 23-year-old No. 1 center getting traded for a 21-year-old potential No. 1 defenseman. We don't see a lot of those trades because teams typically never want to trade 23-year-old No. 1 centers and they're usually loathe to trade 21-year-old potential No. 1 defensemen. That said, with Tampa Bay Lightning left wing Jonathan Drouin on the trading block now, I could see another trade involving at least two promising young players come together here eventually. It won't be at the level of Johansen for Jones, but if Drouin gets moved, it'll be a high level trade.

With John Gibson taking the reins in net, does Anaheim seriously consider moving Frederik Andersen? -- @BrentFoote

It seems logical to me that Andersen would be good trade bait for the Ducks in their pursuit of offense. If they had no glaring needs, I would try to re-sign him (Andersen can be a restricted free agent after the season) to work in tandem with Gibson. But they have a glaring need for young forwards who can score; someone like, oh, Palmieri. For that reason, I think the Ducks have to consider trading Andersen. It's already a luxury this season for the Ducks to have two solid goalies who can be No. 1s on cap-friendly contracts. Andersen is making only $1.15 million this season. He'll get a raise on that, but it won't be astronomical. Gibson is set to make $2.3 million starting next season. The Ducks will still have the luxury of having cheap, good goaltending regardless if they keep Andersen, but they need help up front and Andersen might be able to help them get it.

140 character thoughts on Mike Sullivan so far? -- @Fleury4Vezina

He has the Penguins playing faster and Sidney Crosby is producing. The power play is better. They're inconsistent, but I like the direction.

FYI: I measured that on Twitter. It's exactly 140 characters.

What is the current situation with Anze Kopitar's contract? Has there been a deal done or one imminent? -- @wsinclair45

Kopitar seemed to be a topic du jour on Tuesday with Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman addressing the situation in his "30 Thoughts" (a weekly must-read) and TSN's Darren Dreger discussing it on TSN 1050 in Toronto. Friedman said the Kopitar saga is one of the strangest negotiations he's covered. I'm not extensively covering the negotiations, but I agree that it is strange that he's not signed yet when all indications were it would be done by now. I remember talking to Kopitar during the NHL's annual Player Media Tour in September and he was nonchalant about it, as if he was just thinking it was a formality that it would get done. There has been no announcement, so it's not done yet. I still think it gets done, but it's very weird that it has gone on this long and it does make me wonder if whatever traffic jam might be holding it up could lead to an unexpected detour.

[Editor's note: TSN's Bob McKenzie reported Wednesday that an eight-year, $80 million contract between Kopitar and the Kings is in the final stages of paperwork and close to being finalized.]

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