On the St. Louis Blues …
Pierre LeBrun of ESPN: The St. Louis Blues are believed to be among the teams interested in Arizona Coyotes center Martin Hanzal. The Coyotes are looking for a young player that could play in their lineup immediately.
On the Buffalo Sabres …
Scott Burnside of ESPN: Despite his off-ice issues, teams could be interested in Sabres winger Evander Kane. The 25-year old has 11 goals in 32 games. Would the Sabres move him if they received a blue-chip defensive prospect in return? Kane could be a fit in Vancouver, his hometown.
On the New York Islanders and Florida Panthers …
Elliotte Friedman: Hearing that the Islanders have permission to speak with former Panthers coach Gerard Gallant. Gallant was an assistant coach for the Islanders from 2007 to 2009.
Bob McKenzie: The Islanders asked the Panthers for permission to speak with Gallant awhile ago – week(s) or more.
On the Montreal Canadiens …
Chris Nichols of FanRag Sports: Montreal Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin was on TSN 690 yesterday and was asked what he’d like to add by the trade deadline if he could make it work.
“I think you look around the league, there’s only a few teams that don’t need centermen,” said Bergevin. “I would say 80 percent of the teams would love to get another centerman… they’re not available. If they ever are, there’s a reason why they are. They’re either at the end of their rope, or the money doesn’t work. But you don’t see centermen moving, that’s one.
“To me, I always said you never have enough defensemen. So if we could get a puck-moving defenseman, I think it’d be something that we all want to do. But again, I talk to other general managers on a daily basis. I would say again 90 percent of teams are looking for young, puck-moving defensemen. So those guys are hard to get. Most of the time you have to finish in the basement and draft them. If you’re lucky, you can get one in the free agent market. But they’re seldom available.”