- Arthur Staple: Islanders GM Garth Snow had been having trade talks with numerous GMs in the past few weeks but wasn’t sure if anything would end out happening.
- Arthur Staple: The Islanders never considered trading pending UFA Johnny Boychuk or anyone else off of their roster. There is no word on contract talks between the Isles and Boychuk.
- Cory Wright of Islanders.NHL: Islanders GM Garth Snow
“I thought our team deserved an opportunity to build off what they’ve started here in the first three quarters of the season,” General Manager Garth Snow said. “There’s a lot of good chemistry. There’s a team in that locker room and we didn’t want to delete any of the players out of it if we couldn’t.”
- Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News: Stars GM Jim Nill on the deadline
“Well, today was a pretty quiet today. We didn’t have too much really going on. There was a lot more kind of talk today, hockey trades, instead of just rentals and stuff. And you saw that around the league. Tampa Bay and Philly did a big deal in that, so a lot more talk that way.”
On Shawn Horcoff remaining with the Stars.
“Yeah, there was some talk from other teams and there ended up being no traction and stuff. We’re happy to have Horc. He’s a veteran player for us. He’s good for the young guys. We’ve still got a big push we got to do here and you need to have those type of players.”
Chuck Gormley of CSN Washington: Capitals GM Brian MacLellan after the trade deadline. On the possibility of re-signing Tim Gleason and Curtis Glencross.
“Not yet. I think we need to look to see if it does work. If it fits and the chemistry is good between the lines and the teammates, and if that works then we’ll pursue it for sure.”
MacLellan on if a top-line right winger was a focus for them in their trade talks.
“You look at the market. The UFA guys that were being shopped as rentals, there’s not first-line right wings available. Even the trade market there’s limited opportunities because if you have one you’re not moving them. But there were a couple guys that were maybes and we pursued them to a certain extent, yes.”
Seth Rorabaugh of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: The Penguins added Ben Lovejoy and Ian Cole at the deadline, shipping out Robert Bortuzzo and Simon Despres.
“So those are the two trades. The reasons for these trades is when we looked at our defense, despite the fact that it’s played pretty well to this point, we were concerned about the experience of our defense and we were looking to upgrade it a little bit, more from a veteran presence. And since Ben Lovejoy left here, he has gained great experience in Anaheim and has played extremely well and that will continue when he comes back to Pittsburgh. And in Ian Cole’s case, he’s been in the league and has some good experience and has played extremely well this year. We feel we’ve strengthened our defense after going through the process of our forwards getting more balance and depth up front. And so this is our team.”
- Tom Gulitti: Devils GM Lou Lamoriello said that their picks in the next two drafts are “going to give the ability to add to the forward situation that we’re going to look into.”