Scouting the New Jersey Devils and Chicago Blackhawks …
Dan Rice: Scouts listed for the Devils-Blackhawks game last night: Islanders, Kings, Las Vegas, Stars, Flyers, Panthers, Canadiens and Penguins.
On the Detroit Red Wings …
Ansar Khan of MLive: (mailbag) The Detroit Red Wings could still use a top-three puck-moving defenseman. There aren’t a lot of those available, and the cost to acquire them would be high – see Jacob Trouba.
Trouba is exactly what the Red Wings could use. The Jets want a comparable left-handed, young defenseman in return. If the Wings had one of those, they wouldn’t need to trade for someone like Trouba. Khan doesn’t think the Red Wings have a good chance of trading for him. The Bruins and Rangers are also interested in Trouba.
Don’t think a trade package for Trouba centered around Gustav Nyquist would get a deal done. Brendan Smith has a limited trade value since he’s a UFA at the end of the year.
The Red Wings like Cam Fowler, but don’t see him as a top-pairing defenseman. Nyquist and Tomas Tatar are their best trade chips. Khan doesn’t think the Red Wings will trade Anthony Mantha.
On the Arizona Coyotes …
Sarah McLellan of the Arizona Republic: The Arizona Coyotes were active in the trade and free agent market this offseason, but after a poor start, GM John Chayka said they won’t be looking outside the organization for help.
“My urgency isn’t looking externally at this point,” he said. “My urgency is looking internally and what are we doing. How are we doing it? And how do we make it better? And at the same time, supporting our players. It’s frustrating. It’s not fun for anybody but just making sure everyone’s on the same page and pulling the right direction and doing what they can and a soon as everyone is playing the way they can and focusing on their own games, then we’ll be successful.”
They have been without a top-four defenseman (Michael Stone), top-six winger (Jamie McGinn) and their starting goalie (Mike Smith).