Stars may need to trade a goaltender
Mike Heika: If the Stars want to activate goaltender Ben Bishop they will likely have to trade either Anton Khudobin or Braden Holtby to have enough salary cap space.
If they do that though and Bishop gets re-injured, they could be in a bit of a jam. Because of this they are being patient with Bishop and want to make sure that he is 100 percent.
GM candidates for the Ducks
Eric Stephens of The Athletic: Jeff Solomon is the Anaheim Ducks interim GM and it sounds like he has full authority to make moves as he sees fit as ownership conducts their “methodical, extensive search.”
“I have been told that my responsibilities are the same as any general manager in the league,” Solomon said. “There’s no restrictions on me and I would expect the process to be very similar to the one that I just spent the last 15 years in (with the Kings). We’ll continue to execute the plan the way we envisioned it.”
A look at 10 potential candidates for the permanent GM position, along with their current team/association: Jeff Solomon (Ducks), Martin Maddex (Ducks), Dave Nonis (Ducks), Martin Futa (Hurricanes), Mike Gillis (NHLPA), Jeff Gorton (NHL Network), Sean Burke (Canadiens), Kevin Weekes (ESPN), Jim Rutherford, and Chris Pronger.
Teams could be regretting not trading for Tarasenko this past offseason
Adam Gretz of NBC Sports: The St. Louis Blues had made forward Vladimir Tarasenko available this past offseason. No one wanted to meet the asking price. Now, Tarasenko has been on a point-a-game pace and teams may be regretting their decision.
The Seattle Kraken had the salary cap space and could have selected him in the expansion draft. They selected defenseman Vince Dunn instead.
Tarasenko’s 10-team trade list included the New York Islanders, Philadelphia Flyers, Vegas Golden Knights, New York Rangers and the Boston Bruins. Some of those teams could use some scoring help.
The Rangers have around $9 million in salary cap space to work with, are 23rd in goals-per-game and have pressure to win.