Coach Cassidy thinks Rask will be back
Jimmy Murphy of Boston Hockey Now: After the Boston Bruin signed Linus Ullmark to a five-year deal when free agency opened, most assumed Tuukka Rask days with the Bruins were over. That may not be the case.
Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy doesn’t think Rask’s NHL days are over, and Rask has said he’ll only play in the NHL for the Bruins.
Rask will be out for at least five months.
Rask’s agent Markus Lehto as of Wednesday morning had responded to an email about Rask’s health or to his free agent status.
Blues looking at Chara, Mayfield?
Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic: The St. Louis Blues have added Pavel Buchnevich and Brandon Saad upfront this offseason. The Vladimir Tarasenko situation remains unresolved.
On the blue line they had some issues last season and they’ve done nothing so far to improve. They’ve even lost one in Vince Dunn.
They did talk to Ryan Suter‘s camp but he got four years from the Dallas Stars.
The Blues could still be looking to add a veteran defenseman and a source said for the second consecutive offseason have shown some interest in Zdeno Chara.
Chara could be paired with Colton Parayko on the second pairing. Signing Chara does seem like a long shot at this point. He’s still undecided about playing next season. Family is his top priority so he may be wanting to stay further East.
The door to returning to Washington next hasn’t been closed but they don’t have a lot of cap space to work with.
If remaining in the East isn’t an option, the Blues and Colorado Avalanche could be options in the West.
Potential Blues trade targets have been limited this offseason. New York Islanders defenseman and St. Louis native Scott Mayfield has come up. He’s right-handed and is not the left-handed second-pairing defenseman the Blues could use, but could be an upgrade over Robert Bortuzzo.
A source from another team has said that the Blues at the draft and the start of free agency were shopping Bortuzzo.
The Islanders have been linked to Tarasenko this offseason. Would Bortuzzo (one year left at $1.375 million) be a trade option to land Mayfield who has two years left at $1.45 million?