Interested in Kovalchuk includes…
Boston Hockey Now: Teams that are interested in Ilya Kovalchuk include the Boston Bruins, New York Islanders, New York Rangers, Montreal Canadiens, and Florida Panthers.
Bob McKenzie: The Bruins don’t appear to be interested in signing Kovalchuk.
Rumor roundup for Friedman’s thoughts
Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet: New York Rangers forward Chris Kreider will likely be moved by the trade deadline, but the Rangers don’t appear to be in a rush.
The Ottawa Senators could look to trade center Jean-Gabriel Pageau and defenseman Mark Borowiecki.
The Los Angeles will likely be looking to move pending UFAs Trevor Lewis and Tyler Toffoli for draft picks and prospects.
The Buffalo Sabres have defensemen Zach Bogosian and Marco Scandella.
There is a large group of pending UFAs that are playing on teams that are trying to win now. Some teams that are trying to win that could shuffle the deck a bit – T.J. Brodie and Travis Hamonic (Flames), Mike Hoffman (Panthers) and Mikael Granlund (Predators).
Teams could be interested in Vancouver Canucks Josh Leivo and Chris Tanev. Erik Gustafsson of the Chicago Blackhawks will also draw trade interest. If the San Jose Sharks drop out of it, defenseman Brenden Dillon could get some interest.
The Devils have pending UFAs in Andy Greene and Sami Vatanen. At least one team asked about Vatanen when talking about Hall. The Devils could hang onto pending UFA Wayne Simmonds.
The Flames and Panthers were two teams interested in Hall but they wanted to know that potentially re-signing was an option. The Islanders were another team that looked at a “hockey deal” with the Devils.
A lot of teams are tiring kicking with regards to free agent Ilya Kovalchuk.
Is Micheal Ferland‘s four-year, $3.5 million per year deal a benchmark for Edmonton Oilers Zack Kassian?
Russian sources think that Ilya Sorokin’s considering a KHL extension could be a way of looking for a trade from the Islanders that has a clearer path to the NHL.