On the Boston Bruins …
Fluto Shinzawa of the Boston Globe: If the Bruins find a team to take goaltender Anton Khudobin, they can still expose Zane McIntrye or Malcolm Subban in the expansion draft. Both are are pending RFAs and would required a qualifying offer before the draft to be eligible.
Vegas GM George McPhee is expected to draft one young goaltender out of his three options. Other goalies who could be exposed include Marc-Andre Fleury, Jimmy Howard, Semyon Varlamov, and Antti Niemi.
Fluto Shinzawa of the Boston Globe: Bruins GM Don Sweeney on their coaching situations. Doesn’t sound like they’ve eliminated firing head coach Claude Julien from their list of solutions to get the Bruins back on track.
“I’ve given our coaches a lot of credit for how they’re preparing,” Sweeney said when asked before Saturday’s game with the Panthers if he was considering a coaching change. “We’ve had some slower starts in the last little while. But we’ve been all in together, communicating and seeing where we’re at realistically. Claude’s been receptive to putting younger players in roles that aren’t always comfortable at times. We’re continuing to work at it. I have to look at everything. Ownership would look at me and realize, ‘Well, has Sweeney done enough in the course of his time here?’ We’re sort of in the same place we’ve been, battling. But I think a lot of teams are in that.”
The Bruins are 413-240-92 in 10 years with Julien at the helm.
If they are not going to fire Julien, they need find some help on the wing. Looking like only the Coyotes, Avalanche, Islanders and Sabres are out of the playoff race at the moment. Teams are close to the salary cap ceiling, and then there is the expansion draft.
“You’re seeing the waiver wire and teams utilizing that as opposed to making a trade,” Sweeney said. “I think things are going to heat up a little bit here. But it just means that supply and demand is what it is. There’s a few teams on the outside. The rest of the group is bunched up.”