- Andy Strickland of TrueHockey: A Blues trade of Kevin Shattenkirk for Daniel Briere makes zero sense for the Blues. Shattenkirk will eventually sign a contract extension with Blues. They talked before the lockout and will resume talks at some point, which could be after the season. He has arbitration rights and will get something north of $3 million a year. Comparables for the 22-year old would be Cam Fowler, Tyler Myers, Victor Hedman, John Carlson and Luke Schenn. The Blues could be looking for depth on the blueline, with the Maple Leafs, Jets, Coyotes and Sharks possibly looking to move a defenseman or two. The Blues can take on some salary.
- Adrian Dater of the Denver Post: After matching the Ryan O’Reilly offer sheet, the Avalanche will now have nearly $58 million tied into next seasons salary cap. That won’t leave them much room for UFA’s under the $64.3 million cap ceiling. They won’t be able to trade O’Reilly until Feb. 28th, 2014. After next season, they’ll have to deal with the expiring contracts of Matt Duchene, Paul Stastny and Gabe Landeskog. Stastny would be a UFA.
What the Flames did today, essentially, was potentially blow out the Avs’ salary structure in the next couple years. The Avs let the Flames set the market for O’Reilly’s value – and they had to swallow their pride and accept it because gambling that they’d get a lottery pick with the Flames’ first-round pick this year was too poor a prospect. How awful would it have been for this team if they’d not only let O’Reilly go to Calgary, but then gotten a worse draft pick maybe thanks to his helping them out the rest of the year in the standings? It would have been a humiliating blow.
And today was humiliating enough for Avs management. They clearly gambled that nobody would break the offer sheet code that most teams live by – especially in the year after a lockout – and that they would be able to dictate to O’Reilly what his market value would be, not the other way around. Well, guess what? They lost that bet.
- Elliott Pap via twitter: The Canucks said that they did not tender an offer sheet to O’Reilly.
- Frank Seravalli of the Philadelphia Daily News: Oilers president Kevin Lowe, Sr. VP Craig MacTavish and Eastern scout Marey Gare took in the Flyers game on Wednesday. The Oilers are believed to be looking to move Ryan Whitney and Ales Hemsky. Darren Dreger via twitter: Dreger downplays their presence at the game as they are scouting for Team Canada before going to sports analytics conference in Boston.
- Lou Korac via twitter: Scouting the Blues-Blackhawks: Rangers, Predators, Avalanche, Oilers, Blue Jackets, Jets, Lightning, Hurricanes, Canadiens and Canucks.
- Craig Custance via twitter: Western Conference teams scouting the Bruins-Senators game.
- David Alter of Sportsnet: The Maple Leafs will need to figure out who they’ll send down to the Marlies when Matt Frattin returns, which may happen any day now. Only Nazem Kadri, Leo Komarov and Korbinian Holzer don’t need to clear waivers, but all are playing big roles. If it’s a forward, David Steckel is the likeliest choice. John-Michael Liles has been a healthy scratch lately. Mike Komisarek has only played in four games and has s $4.5 million salary cap hit. The Leafs could send Frattin down to the Marlies on a conditioning stint. Joffrey Lupul could be back soon as well, so another decision will have to be made.