Asking price quieting trade talk on Stone
Sportsnet: The Ottawa Senators moved out Matt Duchene and Ryan Dzingel and only have Mark Stone from their remaining big three pending UFAs.
Things have quieted a big on the Stone front as the asking price is so high.
“The market is drying up on Mark Stone for the Ottawa Senators, for no other reason than because they’re ask is so high,” Sportsnet’s Nick Kypreos reported Saturday on Hockey Night in Canada‘s ‘Headlines’ segment. “They’d love to mirror the pieces that they got with Duchene. The difference is the prospects out of Columbus are regarded as maybe Bs and Cs, and what they’re looking for Stone is grade-A — guys that actually can step in and play right away.
“And right now, there doesn’t seem to be any teams biting, including the Winnipeg Jets.”
If the price were to come down, the Winnipeg Jets would be at the top with interest level, then the Calgary Flames and possibly the Nashville Predators and Boston Bruins.
Kypreos adds,
“And if I’m Ottawa right now, I hope the market can reset between now and Monday at 3 p.m. ET in hopes of maybe one more crack at it. If not, maybe to Elliotte’s point, you try to get him signed.”
Plan B is the price for Stone is too high
Sportsnet: Plan B for teams that may find the price for Mark Stone too high or if they miss out on him, could turn toNew York Rangers Kevin Hayes.
“If you don’t get Stone, I think is Plan B for a lot of hockey clubs, including the Winnipeg Jets,” Sportsnet’s Nick Kypreos reported Saturday during the ‘Headlines’ segment on Hockey Night in Canada. “It wouldn’t nearly be the cost of a Stone and certainly the thought of Hayes coming in and playing in the second centre-ice position and moving Little off to the wing is certainly appeasing to them.”