Kings Byfield staying with Team Canada until after the World Junior Championships
Mike Morreale of NHL.com: Los Angeles Kings 2020 first-round pick Quinton Byfield won’t be joining the Kings until he’s finished playing for Team Canada at the 2021 World Junior Championships.
“The situation is I’m going to stay and hopefully make the team,” Byfield said Thursday. “That’s the plan I talked about with the Rob Blake, and I think that’s the best option for us. I’ll head over (to the Kings) after I’m done .”
Team Canada training camp has started, with the tournament running from December 25th to January 5th. It’s being held in Edmonton.
Two trade candidates for the Capitals, but they won’t be easy moves
Tom Gullitti of NHL.com: (mailbag) With the Washington Capitals in a bit of cap crunch and possibly having too many defensemen, could they trade defenseman Nick Jensen or forward Richard Panik? The Capitals have admitted they know they don’t have much cap space or flexibility. After signing right-handed defensemen in Justin Schultz and Trevor van Riemsdyk, the right-handed Jensen is expendable.
Trading Jensen may not be easy. He has three years left on his contract at a $2.5 million cap hit.
Trading Panik wouldn’t be easy either for the Capitals. He has three years left at a $2.75 million salary cap hit.
The Capitals would like to add some scoring depth to their third-line. They may need to attach a draft pick or prospect with either player to get a team to take on the contract.