- Dave Molinari of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: It isn’t clear if Jordan Staal is interested in leaving the Pens. GM Ray Shero hasn’t said anything to reporters in a couple weeks, and Staal’s agent won’t discuss Staal’s situation. If they are going to move him, they might do so before the draft. The Hurricanes have been mentioned as a likely landing spot. The Canes would have an excellent chance of locking him up to an extension with his brother Eric there, but do they have the assets to trade for him? The Hurricanes hold the 8th overall pick in this years draft. It’s possible that the Penguins look at drafting a goalie this year, with Malcolm Subban and Andrei Vasilevski as possibilities. The Penguins may look at dealing some defenseman as they have 9 that are NHL caliber, and that isn’t including Simon Despres.
- BD Gallof via twitter: The chances of the Islanders trading the 4th overall pick are slim, unless they move back a spots if the price is right. The Islanders won’t have an issue getting to the salary cap floor, not likely to move the 1st round pick and the UFA period is likely to be really frustrating.
- Jeff Gordon of the St. Louis Post Dispatch: Gordon lists top 10 NHL storylines for this week: 1. Will Columbus finally move Rick Nash? 2. Will Edmonton Nail its first overall pick? 3. Can the Devils retain Zach Parise? 4. Can the Predators retain Ryan Suter? 5. Will Roberto Luongo move on from Vancouver? 6. Will young gun Mikhail Grigorenko fall in the first round? 7. Will Teuvo Teravainen climb in the first round? 8. What will become of Alexander Radulov? 9. What’s up the Capitals? 10. Will Minnesota go Wild?
- John Vogl of the Buffalo News: It will be a busy 2 weeks.
“It’s a real busy time for trades and everything else because as we’ve all learned trades are real difficult to make during the season now,” Capitals General Manager George McPhee said in Washington last week. “What you find is that GMs are far more forthcoming in terms of talking about what they want to do with other clubs .
“It used to be you could call a club and some GMs would say, ‘I’m trying to do this or that,’ but most guys would hold things pretty close to the vest because they didn’t want everyone to know what they were doing with their ammunition. But now most teams say, ‘Listen, I’m deep here or there, and I’m trying to move this for that.’ Guys are much more open about what they want to do, to get the message out to other clubs because this is the time to deal.”
The Sabres are looking to improve down the middle, but so are many teams. The Sabres have 4 picks in the first 44 picks at this weeks draft, #12 and #21 in the first round. Sabres GM Darcy Regier said he’s open to anything. Derek Roy will be in rumors this week. He carries a $5.5 million salary but only a $4 million cap hit.