On the Washington Capitals …
Isabelle Khurshudyan of the Washington Post: Capitals GM Brian MacLellan met with reporters and said not to expect any major changes.
Coach Barry Trotz is entering the final year of his four-year and MacLellan said the sides haven’t talked about a contract extension.
Goaltending coach Mitch Korn’s contract has expired and he’s deciding on what he wants to do.
One of MacLellan’s main priorities is to re-sign their pending restricted free agents – Evgeny Kuznetsov, Dmitry Orlov, Andre Burakovsky, Nate Schmidt, Philipp Grubauer and Brett Connolly.
Tom Gulitti: It’s sounding like T.J. Oshie could be the only UFA that might return to the Capitals.
Isabelle Khurshudyan: MacLellan said that they will go with seven forwards, three defense and a goalie
Chris Nichols of FanRag Sports: Bob McKenzie on TSN 690 on Brian MacLellan’s comments that maybe at some point trading Alex Ovechkin would make sense if the right hockey deal was offered.
“It’s kind of interesting,” noted NHL Insider Bob McKenzie of MacLellan’s comments during a radio hit on Montreal’s TSN 690 on Wednesday morning. “He’s got to know when he says that that it’s going to open the door to a lot of speculation. And he did provide qualifiers in terms of, ‘It’s not something we’re looking at now. Maybe down the road.’
Ovechkin is close with owner Ted Leonsis.
“And the other thing that jumps out at me about it – and I haven’t talked to Brian about it yet – would be if a general manager like Brian MacLellan is going to make that statement about Alexander Ovechkin – that maybe for the right hockey trade, down the road it’s something they would look at – you’ve got to run that one by your owner first because Alexander Ovechkin has had special status with Ted Leonsis from the time that they both got there.”
Elliotte Friedman was on Sportsnet 590 and noted that the first time Alex Ovechkin was seen out after they were eliminated was with owner Leonsis courtside at Game 6 of the Celtic and Wizards.
Pierre LeBrun on TSN 1040 on MacLellan’s comments.
“So I still think at the end of the day if aggressively wanted to actually move him – and they don’t seem to be doing that – that there’s a deal to be had I think at some level, especially if you’re willing to retain money in a deal. You suddenly make him a $6-7 million player instead of a $9.5 million player I think the market would open up.
“But it doesn’t sound to me, again from what he shared with the media yesterday, that that’s the top of the agenda for Washington at this point.”