Trade talk starting to heat up at 20-game mark … Coyotes’ open for business … Dallas an early disappointment … Teams that failed to get Duchene now looking elsewhere
The National Hockey League’s 31 general managers gathered in Montreal on Friday for about three hours of formal meetings and a celebration of the league’s 100th birthday.
But the most interesting talks likely took place Thursday at the Bell Centre, where more than 20 GMs gathered in a private suite to watch the Arizona Coyotes’ 5-4 victory over the Montreal Canadiens.
No deals were made, but you can be certain some ground work was done that might to pave the way for trades later this season.
As many teams hit the pivotal 20-game mark of the schedule, pretenders are starting to separate themselves from contenders, so sooner or later teams will determine whether they’re going to be buyers or sellers before the trade deadline on Feb. 26.
Let’s face it, this season has not gone according to plan in several locales, so those GMs are trying to decide whether they should add, subtract, sit still or make a change for the sake of doing something to try to improve.
“There’s a lot of teams talking,” a league executive said yesterday.
OFF THE GLASS
The Coyotes, with only one regulation victory, are willing to talk about pretty much every player on their roster. There’s no way the plan was to go in the tank this season after acquiring centre Derek
Stepan from the New York Rangers and defenceman
Niklas Hjalmarsson from the Chicago Blackhawks. general manager John
Chayka is receiving plenty of calls because the best bet for the Coyotes now is to get the best odds in the draft lottery. Forward Brad Richardson will be a deadline rental, while teams have called to see what path will be taken with defenceman Oliver
Ekman-Larsson, who can become an unrestricted free agent in 2019. He is making $6.5 million this season and $7 million next season, with a $5.5-million cap hit, but hasn’t been very good this season. “They’ve got to be getting a lot of calls, but I’m not sure what the thought process is there,” one league executive said. “I can assure what’s happening there was not their plan. You don’t make those deals in the summer if you plan on picking (in) the top three” … The Florida Panthers have been looking around for a winger … Teams looking to make a deal might want to call Calgary Flames GM Brad
Treliving. He wouldn’t mind picking up a forward for the bottom two lines.
AROUND THE BOARDS
Don’t be surprised if the NHL looks at the possibility of playing in Berlin next season because last week’s Colorado-Ottawa series in Sweden was a resounding success. The German league’s Berlin Eisbaren are owned by the Los Angeles Kings and have a relatively new rink. It would make sense for the Kings to be involved in the Global Series during the regular season, and commissioner
Gary Bettman wants more games overseas … The start by the Dallas Stars been a little surprising. The club hired coach Ken Hitchcock, acquired goalie Ben Bishop from Los Angeles and added defenceman Marc Methot by making a deal with the Vegas Golden Knights. No, the Stars aren’t out of the playoff picture, but many felt they’d be near the top of the Western Conference and not battling for one of the final postseason spots. They must be better defensively … The New York Islanders have a decision to make on defenceman
Calvin de Haan. A potential unrestricted free agent as of July 1, he’s earning $3.3 million per season and hasn’t had any talks about a new deal. There has been talk the Isles may move de Haan before the deadline, but there will be contract discussions before that happens. Of course, the Isles’ first priority is to re-sign centre John Tavares.
RUMOURS DU JOUR
After the Colorado Avalanche dealt Matt
Duchene to the Senators, other teams involved in talks about Duchene have turned elsewhere, but there’s a shortage of available forwards. Columbus Blue Jackets GM Jarmo
Kekalainen isn’t alone in his search, though, and the Pittsburgh Penguins also wouldn’t mind another forward, either … People are waiting for the other shoe to drop in Montreal because of the Canadiens’ inconsistent start and it could get ugly if they miss the playoffs. The name of winger Alex
Galchenyuk continues to play prominently on the market. It’s believed several teams have contacted Habs’ GM Marc Bergevin. There can’t be a hotter seat in the NHL right now than Bergevin’s because coach
Claude Julien isn’t going anywhere. The word is that Bergevin is the NHL’s most active GM and he’d like to do something to shake up his team … Winnipeg Jets GM
Kevin Cheveldayoff will be getting calls for forwards. The Jets are willing to move the likes of Joel Armia, Andrew
Copp and Shawn Matthias, depending on what teams are willing to pay in return. Teams are calling about defenceman Jacob Trouba, who will be a restricted free agent as of July 1, but the Jets have no interest in making that move.
Have a nice Sunday.