On the Boston Bruins and Carolina Hurricanes …
Allan Muir of SI: The Bruins dangling center David Krejci for a defenseman makes sense on the surface, but there are a couple issues with it.
First, Krejci carries a $7.5 million cap hit and a full no-movement clause through 2018-19.
Secondly, the Bruins need to win now or there could be changes to management. There could be deals out there that would help them in the long-term, ie. the Hurricanes, but it may not help now. Financially, deals with the Blues (Kevin Shattenkirk) and Ducks (Cam Fowler) may not work.
The Hurricanes have lots of young defensemen and could use some help up front. It’s unlikely that Justin Faulk, Jaccob Slavin and Noah Hanifin are available. They just drafted Jake Bean. Given the right deal, maybe they could consider moving someone like Haydn Fleury, Brett Pesce, Roland McKeown or Trevor Carrick.
On the Edmonton Oilers …
Jim Matheson: Can’t see the Oilers having Ryan Nugent-Hopkins as their third line center. Would make more sense to have RNH centering the second line, with Leon Draisaitl on the right wing. If the Oilers were to have RNH and Draisaitl on the second line, they would need to bring in a veteran center for the third line. Mark Letestu is a very good fourth line center.
Chris Nichols of Today’s Slapshot: Kevin Lowe on Sportsnet 590 on the void on the Oilers blueline before the Taylor Hall–Adam Larsson, and the Oilers spending years thinking you need top-end forwards to win.
“So for over a decade, we worked at acquiring those top-end forwards, thinking that that would be the difference. But I think witnessing it long enough, realized that you need to build from the back end out, you need to be strong down the middle. We certainly are that way with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and Leon Draisaitl, and now Connor McDavid.
“So the foundation is there. Peter Chiarelli has had big success wherever he’s been. We believe that he’s going to help lead that going into the new building this year.”