A team like Arizona was always likely to sell pieces off and that remains so, but what about Montreal or Vancouver? One has undergone a big front office change, while the other is waiting on what seems like an inevitable move somewhere in the organization.
And what of Seattle, one of the few teams with some cap space? Or Dallas, two years removed from a Stanley Cup Final appearance and now on a five-game winning streak and in a wild card spot after a bumpy start? Jeff Marek mentioned on Hockey Night in Canada that one of their defencemen, John Klingberg, was garnering interest.
For us specifically it’s been hard to identify what we actually need because we’ve had injured players out…we’re still working out what are we identifying that we might need for the rest of the year.
Trade rumours give the most ardent of us armchair GMs something to debate and hypothetical deals to break down.
Three years ago DeBrusk scored 27 goals for the Bruins and the plan appeared to be for him to become a key secondary scoring option to support the big line.
One is that top-line winger Brad Marchand was suspended three games for a slew foot on Vancouver’s Oliver Ekman-Larsson and will remain out of the lineup for the rest of this week.
So while the Bruins are open to finding a trade for DeBrusk, they also still need the player right now.
Following a 25-point season with the Winnipeg Jets, Appleton was squeezed out in the expansion draft not because he was underperforming, but because of the numbers game.
The Philadelphia Flyers were one of those teams to watch in the off-season because of the potential they had for some serious turnover.
Now, after an 8-8-4 start, the Flyers haven’t gotten the immediate pay off they would have liked from those moves.
Interestingly, the Flyers have sort of shown two versions of themselves this season.
I don’t feel I’ve been able to see that to this point in time.
The Flyers go to New York to face the Rangers, who have a .725 points percentage, on Wednesday.
“We weren’t perfect , we didn’t have the puck enough for me, we were chasing a little bit that way, but we were defending well,” Fletcher said.
Travis Konecny has 10 points and a minus-4 rating in 20 games, but is a key young piece signed for another three years.
One of the biggest stories of the week is the big shift in the Canadiens’ front office, leaving Jeff Gorton behind as the executive vice-president of hockey operations, with an eventual GM to work with him.
So it was no surprise to see him surface on various candidate lists and for this topic to be a discussion around the Montreal market.
“What do they have to lose by giving me the chance to see what I can do with this club?” Roy told Le Journal de Quebec.
The way in which he departed the Avs as head coach — when he felt his voice wasn’t being heard in player personnel decisions — has led to some question to how he would fit into this particular dynamic with the Canadiens, where Jeff Gorton figures to play a leading role.
Now fully vaccinated, Evander Kane cleared waivers this week and is practising with the AHL’s San Jose Barracuda.
Even though Kane led the Sharks in scoring last season, he comes with a lot of baggage.
It’s funny, I had my end-of-year meeting last year and it was nothing but positive, positive, positive, and how great I was with the young guys and how great of a season I had.
The Sharks are believed to be willing to retain salary in a Kane deal, perhaps as much as $3.5 million or so.