On the St. Louis Blues …
Jeff Gordon of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: The St. Louis Blues need to add more scoring. Injuries and the loss of David Perron in the expansion draft played a role in them having the eighth fewest goals in the league.
Robert Thomas, Jordan Kyrou, Tage Thompson, Sammy Blais, Klim Kostin, Erik Foley and Nolan Stevens will be looked at in camp.
Robby Fabbri and Zach Sanford are coming off of major surgeries.
GM Doug Armstrong needs to make another big move either by trade for through free agency, something that won’t be easy.
Defenseman Jay Bouwmeester and Carl Gunnarsson have been recovering from injuries, reducing some trade leverage Armstrong may have had.
If John Tavares becomes available, the Blues will want in.
Edmonton Oilers Ryan Nugent-Hopkins or Buffalo Sabres Ryan O’Reilly would be interesting trade targets.
The Blues have just over $64 million for 20 players next season, and the cap ceiling could be around $80 million.
They need to re-sign RFA defenseman Joel Edmundson, and they should look to re-sign UFA goaltender Carter Hutton. Re-signing Kyle Brodziak would also make sense.
On the New York Rangers …
Aivis Kalnins: Ilya Kovalchuk on the New York Rangers rumors: “That’s what Russian media does, they have found and signed a contract for me, while I haven’t even discussed anything with any of the teams yet.”
Chris Nichols of FanRag Sports: Elliotte Friedman on his 31 Thoughts: The Podcast was saying we may not really know what the New York Rangers are thinking. There are reports about the Rangers bringing over Ilya Kovalchuk.
“But I don’t think we’re really going to know until the summer, after the draft and free agency, what kind of thing the Rangers are really looking at. I think there’s a chance they go for one or two bigger guys and try to fill in with the kids and see if the enthusiasm can carry them over.
“Karlsson could make a lot of sense there to me too, but not for a year.”