On the St. Louis Blues …
Jeremy Rutherford: Blues GM Doug Armstrong on coach Ken Hitchcock: “The guy has the best winning percentage in hockey over the last six years. If he’s in danger, then everybody’s in danger.”
On the Chicago Blackhawks …
Chris Hine: Blackhawks GM Stan Bowman wouldn’t give an update on any contract talks involving Artemi Panarin.
On the Columbus Blue Jackets …
Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet: Clarifying comments from last weeks 30 thoughts regarding Brandon Saad. “very curious to see where things go” doesn’t mean the Blue Jackets are looking to trade Saad and there is no evidence that GM Jarmo Kekalainen is shopping Saad. It’s a little premature to add Saad to any “trade watch” list.
Chris Nichols of FanRag Sports: Bob McKenzie was on TSN 1040 radio on Thursday and was asked if that since the Vancouver Canucks are looking for scoring, would they be interested in Brandon Saad.
“I’d pump the brakes a little on that one,” cautioned McKenzie. “I know my colleague from Hockey Night in Canada, Elliotte Friedman, mentioned some stuff about Saad. Just about his ice time being down and being in a little bit of the dog house here and there with Torts in Columbus. He had that in his column this week, but I don’t think he necessarily specifically suggested that that was going to lead to a trade, only that other people around the league had obviously noticed that he hasn’t been playing.
“And I saw where I think Elliotte was putting something out today talking about that. I didn’t see what it was specifically, although judging from just what I read on Twitter while I was in the airport flying back from New York, it looked to me like pump the brakes on this Brandon Saad trade talk, which took on a life of its own because he just brought up the fact that he’s not playing a lot of minutes in Columbus and has been in and out of the doghouse a little bit.”