On the Arizona Coyotes …
- Sarah McLellan of the Arizona Republic: In the middle of a rebuild, the Coyotes find themselves in a playoff spot coming out of the All-Star break. The Coyotes have brought in defenseman Kevin Connauton and Jarred Tinordi recently, and GM Don Maloney said they continue to explore options for their blueline
“If we can tweak a little bit and help, we’ll help,” he said. “I’m not going to do anything that will box out our younger people from getting meaningful minutes.”
The Coyotes won’t steer away from their long-term objective leading up to the trade deadline.
“As we get closer to the trade deadline, there’s still a question of where we’re going to be,” Maloney said. “Probably the same conversation we had a month ago, ‘We’ll see at the end of January.’ Now, ‘Let’s see mid-February, is there a little more definition to where we are.’ If we stay in this range, which is great, we’ll see what direction we go in at the trade deadline.”
On the Tampa Bay Lightning …
- Platinum Seat Ghosts: Bruce Garrioch said that Lightning GM Steve Yzerman went from trying to get roster players for Jonathan Drouin, to trying to get high-end prospects for him.
On the Nashville Predators …
- Chris Nichols of Today’s Slapshot: Predators GM David Poile on Nashville’s 102.5 on the trade deadline.
“But it’s not like I’m actively saying, ‘We need to get this, we need to get that.’
“Right now, like I said earlier, we had three left wingers that are out. If we get Bourque, Wilson back and we sign Jimmy Vesey, boy, that’s a great add right there.
“We’re not changing our goaltending, I can’t see that. Defense, we made our big trade with Seth. We’re trying to give Granberg and Bitetto a try.
“So I don’t know. You never say never. When you get to the trading deadline, crazy things happen. But I just want us to play well, play consistently, and maybe this is the team.”