On the trade front and speculation …
Chris Nichols of FanRag Sports: Darren Dreger was on TSN 690 talking about the trade front and speculation that is out there.
“But when it comes to defense, this year more than any other that I can remember in a long, long time, there are good young defensemen available,” continued Dreger. “Beaulieu fits into that group to some degree. But when you’re throwing out names like Tyson Barrie of the Colorado Avalanche – it depends on what is required to get that piece – but maybe there’s a fit in some scenario there.
“Again, we want to connect Matt Duchene to the Montreal Canadiens. We know that Colorado is not going to trade Tyson Barrie unless they get a defense in return.”
Dreger mentions that Minnesota Wild defensemen Jonas Brodin and Matt Dumba’s name have been mentioned. Dreger thinks the Wild would like to keep Brodin.
Winnipeg Jets defenesman Toby Enstrom isn’t young compared to some of the other defensemen available, but his name has been on and off the past couple years.
“When you go through every team, there’s probably names that we’re not even aware of that might be surprising. But again, because of the expansion draft – and the Islanders to me are the most captivating because of Hamonic and because of Calvin De Haan. They would like to move one of those guys and I’m sure they would prefer to move Calvin De Haan so they can protect Travis Hamonic, but there’s a team that we’re going to watch closely here in the days ahead.”
Dreger says he can’t see how the Chicago Blackhawks could trade Brent Seabrook. Niklas Hjalmarsson‘s name is “kind of out there.”
The Blackhawks and Vegas Golden Knights continue to work on the Marcus Kruger and Trevor van Riemsdyk deal.
“So if Hjalmarsson is even remotely out there, I can tell you the market would be strong. I, while covering the Stanley Cup Final, just floated his name to a couple of teams in the NHL. The response was, ‘If he’s out there, we’d be interested.’”
