On the Anaheim Ducks …
- Platinum Seat Ghosts: Bruce Garrioch on Cam Fowler: “His name definitely surfaced earlier in the year.”
On the Ottawa Senators …
- Platinum Seat Ghosts: Bruce Garrioch on Chris Neil’s trade deadline value: “I think you could get a draft pick for him.”
On the Winnipeg Jets …
- Ken Wiebe of Winnipeg Sun: Ondrej Pavelec is about ready to return. Wiebe thinks they could give him a short conditioning stint in the AHL. Connor Hellebuyck will get one of the starts this weekend.Question is where does Pavelec’s return leave Michael Hutchinson? He might get through waivers or they could send him to the AHL on a conditioning stint.
Pavelec doesn’t want to be a backup, but right now Hellebuyck gives the Jets the best chance to win. Pavelec has a $3.9 million cap hit, but salary of $4.25 million this year, and $4.75 million next year.
Most teams aren’t really looking for a starting goalie this year. The Flames don’t have a goalie under contract for next year, they don’t have a prospect ready just yet, so they might have an interest. The Jets might have to take back Jonas Hiller, but his contract expires after the season. That extra cap space space could help out with getting one of Dustin Byfuglien or Andrew Ladd re-signed.
If they can’t move Pavelec, they could keep him around for insurance.
On Jonathan Drouin …
- Chris Nichols of Today’s Slapshot: Darren Dreger on TSN 690 on if there could be anything on the Jonathan Drouin trade front.
“No, but the message prior to the All-Star was pretty much consistent with what we’ve been told all along. The feeling is that Yzerman has a deal or two in his back pocket and he’s just hoping and waiting for a team to get more desperate to sweeten things up.
“As for the teams who might be interested, I think it remains the same. The Montreal Canadiens have interest, there’s no question about that. I don’t believe that Yzerman – I was talking about Toronto trading within its division – I don’t think Yzerman has any in trading Jonathan Drouin to Montreal, unless Bergevin is so desperate that he’s willing to sell the farm to make that work. I don’t think that’s reality either.
“St. Louis said they wanted to wait until the All-Star to get a bit healthier and kind of analyze again where they’re at. I’m still looking at St. Louis as being a primary contender for Drouin.”