Injured Stars and Lightning
Neal McHale: Dallas Stars coach Rick Bowness said that defenseman Andrej Sekera will be a game-time decision.
Roope Hintz, Blake Comeau, Ben Bishop and Radek Faksa all remain “unfit to play.”
Chris Johnston: Tampa Bay Lightning forward Steven Stamkos is done for the remainder of the season.
- Chris Johnston: Lightning coach Jon Cooper said that he was surprised that Stamkos was even able to play at all: “He gave us 2:47 of brilliant hockey.”
- Chris Johnston: “With Steven Stamkos done for the season, the #TBLightning are trying to become the first team in more than 80 years to clinch the Stanley Cup without their captain”
Chris Stewart retires from the NHL
NHL.com: After 12 seasons with seven different organizations, forward Chris Stewart retired from the NHL. He played in 16 games this past season with the Philadelphia Flyers but was not on their playoff roster.
Stewart was drafted 18th overall in the 2006 draft by the Colorado Avalanche and went on to play with the St. Louis Blues, Buffalo Sabres, Minnesota Wild, Anaheim Ducks, Calgary Flames, and the Flyers.
He recorded 160 goals and 162 assists for 322 points in 668 games.
Could the Flames fit in both Alex Pietrangelo and Jacob Markstrom?
Eric Duhatschek of The Athletic: The Calgary Flames are one of the teams that Alex Pietrangelo has been linked too. The Flames have also been tied to the Vancouver Canucks unrestricted free agent goaltender Jacob Markstrom and Columbus Blue Jackets restricted free agent forward Josh Anderson.
Could the Flames even be able to bid on both Pietrangelo and Markstrom?
They have five pending UFA defensemen in TJ Brodie, Travis Hamonic, Derek Forbort, Erik Gustafsson and Michael Stone, and goaltender Cam Talbot.
The Flames have about $17 million in cap space. The left side of their blue line is a bit crowded with Mark Giordano, Juuso Valimaki, Noah Hanifin and Connor Mackey. Moving Hanifin could create an extra $4.95 million in cap space.
It’s then possible to sign Pietrangelo around $9.5 million and Markstrom at $5.5 million. Andrew Mangiapane needs a new deal and they would need to fill out their roster with cheap contracts.
Back in December the Flames showed some interest in defenseman Sami Vatanen, who will be a free agent.
