On Barry Trotz …
Darren Dreger: Sources saying the New York Islanders and Barry Trotz are getting close to a deal for Trotz to become their next head coach.
John Shannon: Hearing that the Islanders and two other teams are kicking tires on Barry Trotz.
Jesse Montano: Trotz has been seen in Newark and Seattle.
Amir Basu: Darren Dreger (a couple days ago) on Trotz: “The 3rd team I am intrigued by is the Anaheim Ducks and the future of Randy Carlyle, who knows what Bob Murray and the Ducks are going to do, but they got to do something.”
Amir Basu: Dreger mentions the Minnesota Wild and Chicago Blackhawks could be potential Trotz suitors. The start of the season would have to go badly for the Blackhawks to move on Joel Quenneville.
On the Boston Bruins …
Jimmy Murphy: Sources are saying that there is increased trade talk involving forward David Krejci and David Backes as the Bruins may be looking to clear out salary cap space to potentially take a run at John Tavares.
On the Buffalo Sabres …
WGR 550: Darren Dreger: “Rasmus Ristolainen is a surprising name, to me, that is on the trade market, but there is certainly interest in him. Teams like Anaheim and Edmonton may have already expressed interest, and there could be up to 8 teams on that list.”
WGR 550: Dreger: “I think the interest in Ryan O’Reilly from around the NHL is considerable. I’m not sure what that list looks like, but I wouldn’t be surprised if there were about 5 teams interested.”
On the Buffalo Sabres and Montreal Canadiens …
WGR 550: Darren Dreger: “It sounds insane to me that the Canadiens would give up the #3 pick possibly to acquire O’Reilly. Marc Bergevin has to come out of this offseason with a lot more than just Max Domi. Don’t know if he can survive another brutal season.”
Sneaky Joe WGR: Jeff Marek: “The #Sabres are in on a lot of players, Max Pacioretty might be at the top of that list.”