On the Montreal Canadiens …
Stu Cowan: There were 17 scouts listed to attend Tuesday’s Canadiens-Blues game: St. Louis Blues (2), New York Rangers (2) San Jose Sharks, Pittsburgh Penguins, New York Islanders, Toronto Maple Leafs, Florida Panthers, Los Angeles Kings, Edmonton Oilers, Detroit Red Wings, Winnipeg Jets, Buffalo Sabres, Philadelphia Flyers, Dallas Stars and Calgary Flames.
Rory Boylen of Sportsnet: It’s well known that Canadiens are a little thin on the blue line after changes they made in the past year or two. They are looking to get younger and faster.
One potential target is St. Cloud State defenseman Jimmy Schuldt. The Canadiens scouted St. Cloud in back-to-back games last weekend – also watching their 2017 first round pick. They won’t be the only team looking at the pending free agent.
On the Vegas Golden Knights and Dallas Stars …
Chris Nichols of FanRag Sports: Elliotte Friedman was on the NHL Network on Monday talking about the trade market. The Vegas Golden Knights and their 10-5-2 record has people wondering what they are going to do with all their players.
“It’s tough,” maintained Friedman. “As an owner I say, ‘I kind of like this, I want to go for the playoffs,’ but they need to build. They’ve got a lot of guys who are unrestricted free agents. They need to build.”
Friedman touches on Dallas Stars forward Jason Spezza after he brought up his name on the weekend on ‘Headlines’.
“I think Jason Spezza still has a lot to offer, I just wonder if it’s going to be in Dallas. He’s got one more year at $7.5 million. I think the Stars’ preference is to make it work because you always need to score and Jason Spezza can score.
“But if it doesn’t, he’s got a no-move clause during the season. He controls his fate. But I wonder if there would be teams that would look at it like maybe a Columbus, maybe an Anaheim, who would say, ‘You know what? We could use him.’ ”