- Mike Zeisberger of the Toronto Sun: Maple Leafs fans shouldn’t get their hopes up for a big trade to go down by the March 5th deadline.
“I don’t anticipate us making any major moves,” Nonis said. “And I definitely don’t see us getting involved in a rent-a-player transaction that sees us move resources for someone we only have for a handful of weeks.”
Nonis isn’t closing the door on a big deal, he could receive an offer he can’t refuse.
“You’re always looking to get better,” he said. “But it has to be a hockey deal. It has to make sense long term while helping us now as well.”
- Dave Isaac: Flyers GM Paul Holmgren doesn’t foresee a busy trade deadline because the Eastern Conference is so tight.
- Rob Mixer: Mixer wonders how many times Blue Jackets management will have to say “we’re not interested in rentals” for people to listen.
- Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News: Stars Jim Nill on trades.
“I think it’s going to be slow, but it just takes one team to do something,” Nill said. “We’ll see what happens. It’s very quiet right now. I think teams are going to come back and nobody really knows what they have. Some teams have injuries, some teams could still get injuries. Everyone has three or four games under their belt before the deadline, so I think more things will happen then (closer to the deadline).”
Nill on if they will look to add a forward.
“I don’t think so.”
“I’m not sitting here saying I need to add a scorer,” he said. “I like our mix, I like our growth. You’ve got to be careful with additions, with the chemistry of the team and the growth of the team.”
- Chuck Gormley of CSN Washington: Capitals GM George McPhee on his three players that asked for trades: Martin Erat, Michal Neuvirth and Dmitry Orlov.
“Things can change with players,” McPhee said. “With respect to agents, you get five of those – I think every team gets five of those requests every year.
“Someone isn’t playing well or not playing enough, can you give him a chance someplace else? The only thing we put stock in is when a player walks in our office and says to me, ‘I’d like an opportunity someplace else.’ Then you try to accommodate him.
“Sometimes that changes throughout the year. If he starts playing better, he may say, ‘You know what? I was wrong. I want to change my mind.’”
McPhee on just Erat.
“I don’t think that’s going to change,” McPhee said of Erat’s request. “I’ll talk to him when he gets back and if he still wants to be traded, we’ll try to accommodate him.
“It’s been a difficult year with transactions. Had this been a typical year we might have been able to move him within weeks of his request, but that wasn’t the case this year.”
McPhee on the deadline.
“If there’s something at the deadline that we think can help this club that’s been battling all year we’re going to do it. We’ll trade picks and players to make this team better if that’s what’s necessary.
“Sometimes you’ll make good trades and sometimes you won’t, but we’ll always work our tails off to make the team as good as it can be.”