Scouting the Philadelphia Flyers and Buffalo Sabres game …
Adam Kimelman: Scouts listed to attend last night’s Sabres-Flyers game: LA Kings (2), Boston Bruins (2), Chicago Blackhawks, Montreal Canadiens, Anaheim Ducks, Toronto Maple Leafs, Carolina Hurricanes, Minnesota Wild, NY Islanders, Vegas Golden Knights and the Detroit Red Wings.
On the Columbus Blue Jackets …
Steve Gorten: Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekalainen on potential roster moves: “Sometimes you want to change the chemistry of the team a little bit or give it a little bit of a jolt, but you still have to have the principle of how we make the team better. Not a trade just for the sake of making a trade”
On the Philadelphia Flyers, Boston Bruins, Calgary Flames, and San Jose Sharks …
Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic: The Flyers acquired Jori Lehtera and two first-round picks for Brayden Schenn at the 2017 draft. He has just two assists in 17 games and has been a healthy scratch of late.
The Flyers would move Lehtera, who has another year left on his deal at $4.7 million. That price may scare teams away. The Flyers may have to retain salary if they want to move.
The Bruins looked at defenseman Sami Vatanen before he was traded to the Devils. The Bruins might have been interested in Vatanen to ease the load on Charlie McAvoy who is averaging over 23 minutes a game.
The Calgary Flames, along with the St. Louis Blues and Vancouver Canucks are looking for a top-six forward. They might even be okay with a top-nine.
wonders if Aaron Dell could be this year’s Scott Darling. The 28-year old pending UFA will be looking for a raise from his $625,000 and could be a trade chip for the Sharks before the deadline.
Dave Isaac: “Re: @PierreVLeBrun’s report on potential of Flyers eating salary in a Lehtera trade, here’s the ballpark — if they were to buy him out after this season they’d deal with cap hits of $1.37M and $1.67M the next two years anyway … Should mention, Pierre didn’t say that any potential trade would definitely involve salary retention, but would certainly think a team would ask Hextall to do that and he has in the past (Luke Schenn, Vinny Lecavalier)”