On the Carolina Hurricanes …
Pierre LeBrun: Hearing now that the Hurricanes are shifting gears in their GM search. They will pause their search until the offseason when more candidates will be available. The timing for a couple guys wasn’t right.
Craig Custance: The Hurricanes may also have more competition for potential candidates in the offseason as well.
Sonny Sachdeva of Sportsnet: Another issue the Hurricanes are facing with their GM search is money according to Nick Kypreos.
“I’m told in the ballpark of $400,000 a year — that’s where that job will start,” Sportsnet’s Nick Kypreos said Saturday during the Headlines segment on Hockey Night in Canada. “And there’s just no way that they can attract good hockey people, credible people, experienced people to take that salary. Whether or not it’s a lesser role still remains to be seen, but it’s a non-starter for many of the established people that are out there and that have shown interest.”
Elliotte Friedman added that everyone knew who was a candidate and who was pulling out of consideration. The Hurricanes decided to go underground as they didn’t like how much was going public. Friedman thinks they will continue their search but it will be much quieter this time around.
On the New York Islanders and John Tavares …
Emily Sadler of Sportsnet: Islanders GM Garth Snow made it clear that he wasn’t trading pending unrestricted free agent John Tavares before the trade deadline and that he wasn’t given up assets for rental players. Sportsnet’s Nick Kypreos wonders if that was the right approach.
“A lot of eyebrows being raised in terms of Tavares moving out of his natural position at centre to moving to the wing with Barzal night in Carolina,” Kypreos said during Hockey Night in Canada Saturday night, referring to head coach Doug Weight’s “experiment” to spark scoring down the stretch.
“I can also tell you that there’s a feeling that the Islanders did Tavares no favours at the trade deadline, not getting him the necessary players to make one last push for the playoffs,” said Kypreos.
Brian Compton: “IF Tavares leaves you guys, it won’t be because Weight experimented with him playing LW alongside Mat Barzal in Game 72 of a lost season. Come on now.”