Coyotes looking to make some deals before the draft if over
Craig Morgan: Arizona Coyotes GM Bill Armstrong: “There are still some trades to complete ahead of the NHL Draft before the team’s free agency needs can be addressed.”
Could the Coyotes-Senators swap $4 million centers?
Shawn Simpson: Arizona Coyotes forward Christian Dvorak has four years and $20 million left on his contract. That is too much for a third-line center.
Ottawa Senators Colin White has four years left on his deal at the same money.
Could the teams flip players? wouldn’t want Dvorak, White and Chris Tierney all on the roster at the same time.
Lightning still trying to find a home for Johnson
TSN: Pierre LeBrun said the Tampa Bay Lightning need to move out even more salary and their main priority is finding a new home for Tyler Johnson.
“He’s got three more years on his deal at $5 million. He’s got 22 teams on his partial no-trade list. That list was submitted a while back and it’s an absolute priority now for Tampa to try and find a home for a player they really respect but obviously need to move for cap reasons.”
Wild have some holes to fill but a little cap flexibility
Michael Russo of The Athletic: The Minnesota Wild had already bought out Ryan Suter, and they lost Carson Soucy in the expansion draft. GM Bill Guerin.
“Obviously it hurts our depth. We’ve got some work to do and we’ve got to fill some spots.”
The Wild have $29 million in cap space and have some flexibility.
“We’re going to have to be active in free agency. We could be active in the trade market. There are a lot of things we could do,” he said. “We understand where we are right now, and we have some flexibility.”
Kirill Kaprizov and Kevin Fiala will take a good portion of that cap space. Things are “status quo,” they are working on it and Guerin isn’t worried.
Free agent targets for the Wild could be defensemen like Alex Goligoski, Jake McCabe and David Savard. Winger Nick Foligno is another potential target.
Sources say Guerin continues to talk to the Buffalo Sabres about Jack Eichel.
Guerin when asked about moving up or down in the draft.
“We’re not going to chase anything, that’s for sure. We’re very comfortable where we are. To have two first-round picks this year is a good position to be in.”