Quick notes on the Blues, Bruins, Coyotes and Boudreau
Luke Fox of Sportsnet: The St. Louis Blues and Boston Bruins could trade the rights to Alex Pietrangelo and Torey Krug if they can’t reach a deal.
With the Arizona Coyotes signing goaltender Adim Hill to a one-way contract, it seems to point to them trading one of Antti Raanta or Darcy Kuemper.
Bruce Boudreau said on Squid & The Ultimate Leafs Fan podcast that the Toronto Maple Leafs would be the only team that he’d be an assistant coach for.
Two potential free agent options for the Devils blue line
Corey Masisak of The Athletic: (mailbag) The New Jersey Devils have the salary cap space to be aggressive on the trade and free agent market if they so choose. Signing some veteran to short-term deals does make some sense.
A defenseman like T.J. Brodie makes some sense for the Devils and would be cheaper than Krug. One problem with Brodie is that he’s 30-years old. Teams like the Vancouver Canucks and Colorado Avalanche may also be interested and they are further along than the Devils. It may take a five-year deal at between $5 and $6 million.
Adding someone like Radko Gudas would make some sense on a short-term deal. GM Tom Fitzgerald said he wanted to make the Devils tougher to play against.
Blackhawks priority is to re-sign Crawford but they are looking at other options
Charlie Roumeliotis of NBA Sports Chicago: The Chicago Blackhawks top priority this offseason is to re-sign goaltender Corey Crawford. They are also considering other options, with Elliotte Friedman reporting they’ve checked in Coyotes Darcy Kuemper.
Kuemper has two years left at $4.5 million. It doesn’t make a lot of sense for the Blackhawks to give up a bunch of assets when they can re-sign Crawford at a similar price.
Crawford has said that he doesn’t expect a contract to get done right away.
“I don’t know how much is going to get done right away,” Crawford said. “I assume things will happen closer to next season. So it’s going to be a waiting game, I think. It’s tough, especially with the cap. We have a lot of guys who need to be signed.”