- Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun: The Maple Leafs, Penguins and Senators are checking out the goalie market.The Pens and Sens are looking for depth, and have shown interest in Josh Harding. The Wild are looking for a top pick and prospect. The Leafs have talked to the Islanders about Evgeni Nabokov, but GM Garth Snow is saying he won’t be moved. There is plenty of interest in Sabres Derek Roy. The Leafs, Canadiens, Blackhawks and Kings were interested in Antoine Vermette before he was dealt to Phoenix. The Canadiens could be open to trading center Tomas Plekanec. The Islanders want to wait until after today’s game to decide whether they are buyers or sellers. P.A. Parenteau is interested in re-signing with the Islanders, but the Senators, Blackhawks, Bruins and Maple Leafs have shown interest in him. If the Hurricanes are able to re-sign Bryan Allen, they may move Jaroslav Spacek. It’s sounding like Steve Ott won’t be moved, Canucks and Leafs interested. Looking like Mike Ribeiro could be moved.
- The Fourth Period: One league executive is saying the Maple Leafs are looking to add 2 top 6 forwards, which may result in the Leafs dealing Mikhail Grabovski. It’s looking unlikely that he’ll be re-signing with the Leafs before the deadline. The Leafs have been offered a 2nd and a prospect. The Leafs are also eyeing Steve Ott, James van Riemsdyk and Paul Stastny.
- Chris Kuc of the Chicago Tribune: Jonathan Toews upper body injury is progressing. There is a chance he plays on Wednesday. Same goes for Niklas Hjalmarsson.
- Arthur Staple via twitter: The Islanders have a couple inquiries on Brian Rolston, so it won’t be a surprise if he gets claimed off waivers.
- Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal: Don’t expect to see Red Wings Patrick Eaves back this season. He’s been out with a broken jaw and is still having headaches.
- Ansar Khan of MLive: Red Wings coach Mike Babcock likes his roster, but realizes you can’t have enough depth up front.
“We’re all focused on if we can improve our team,” Babcock said. “At the same time, we like our team. If there’s something there that can help us and makes sense, then that’s a great thing.
“Change just to change isn’t going to be the approach. We’ve already done a good job in giving ourselves depth on the back end (by acquiring defenseman Kyle Quincey on Tuesday). We want to get healthy up front, but if there’s something available to make us better, we’d like to acquire that.”
A list of players could include: Travis Moen, Paul Gaustad, Sammy Pahlsson, Steve Ott, Mike Knuble and Mikael Samuelsson.
- Josh Cooper of the Tennessean: Predators GM David Poile:
“This trading deadline is not setting up anywhere near the same, in my memory, as past trading deadline,” Poile said. “Now we have more situations where more teams are in the playoffs or ‘I’m two points out of the playoffs … I’m not sure If I’m a buyer or a seller.’ What we know for sure is how close the standings are and it’s really hard to identify very many sellers at this point.”
The Predators continue to look for a forward.
“We certainly could use more depth on our forwards,” Poile said. “You talk two things, a higher-end deal for a top-six or top-nine forward or you talk about your depth.”