- Aaron Portzline via twitter: “Have it on good authority Flyers James van Riemsdyk would be more than willing to come to #CBJ if such a trade came to pass.”
- Terry Koshan of the Toronto Sun: The only way to improve the Maple Leafs is through the trade route. Burke has no desire to trade Jake Gardiner. Players who aren’t going anywhere are: Dion Phaneuf, Phil Kessel, Joffrey Lupul, John-Michael Liles and James Reimer. Rumors will likely surround Luke Schenn until he’s actually traded. Matthew Lombardi, Clarke MacArthur and Colby Armstrong all carry a $3 million cap hit or more, and could help a team get to the salary floor. Tim Connolly carries a $4.5 million cap hit. Clubs may find Tyler Bozak and his $1.5 million salary attractive, though Burke may not want to move him. Defenseman Carl Gunnarsson could be moved to make room for Korbinian Holzer. Nikolai Kulemin, Matt Frattin and Cody Franson are due qualifying offers by Monday.
- Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press: Jaromir Jagr interested the Red Wings last season, and will likely interest them again this year. They offered him $2.5 million last year before he signed for $3.3 million with the Flyers. The Wings want to add a top 6 forward, and if they can’t land Zach Parise, Jagr could be part of their backup plan. The Red Wings would like to re-sign Jiri Hudler, but he may test free agency.
- Damian Cristodero of the Tampa Bay Times: If Lightning GM Steve Yzerman is going trade one of his 1st round draft picks, it’s likely to be the 19th overall and not the 10th pick, but “I think it’s more likely we use both picks.” Publicly Yzerman’s philosophy has been to draft the best player available, but the 1st round is defenseman heavily and their organizational depth is shallow along the blueline. Yzerman said they are “not necessarily” targeting a defenseman.
“It is not a position where we have a lot of guys coming up,” he said. “But all things being equal, we’re going to pick the best player available with the picks that we have.”
Gary Lawless of the Winnipeg Free Press: Jets goalie Ondrej Pavelec has a 1 year offer worth more than $5 million from St. Petersburg of the KHL. Pavelec reportedly is looking for a 4 year deal worth around $4 million per season. The Jets may be thinking something lower or he may have been re-signed by now. If the Jets don’t want to pay to keep him and decide to look at the trade market, the Maple Leafs would likely be interested, with the Blue Jackets not far behind. Evander Kane’s agent said on Tuesday that there is no truth to the rumor that Kane doesn’t want to re-sign with the Jets, and some talks could happen this weekend.
- George Malik via twitter: Sports.ru is reporting that Vityaz Chekhov wasn’t successful in bidding for Alexei Kovalev.
