On the Detroit Red Wings …
Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press: (mailbag) Red Wings goaltender Petr Mrazek doesn’t hold much trade value. He was available during the offseason, and there weren’t any takers. He’s a pending free agent. If another team runs into some goalie injuries, they may inquire, but they’ll only be offering an above average player or prospect.
The Red Wings like Andreas Athanasiou and unless they are offered a blue-chip prospect or first round pick, they won’t be trading him.
On the New York Rangers and Montreal Canadiens …
Chris Nichols of FanRag Sports: Darren Dreger was on TSN 690 radio talking about how the New York Rangers heavily scouted the Ottawa Senators – Montreal Canadiens game the other night.
“So the Rangers were there for a purpose. Maybe they’re just simply gathering intel, looking at both teams to see if there’s a fit that might make some sense, and they take that intel back to Jeff Gorton.
“One thing we know for certain: The New York Rangers are definitely interested in doing something. Whatever that something is, I think they’re pretty wide open for business. So to send four representatives was a bit unique.”
The conversation then switches to the Montreal Canadiens, who according to Dreger have the speed up front but have been inconsistent in their puck movement and transition game from the blue line.
“They don’t have a whole lot of players currently who are capable of executing that with any level of consistency. Now, we saw a bit more of it, but I think it was just simply because of the confidence of the Habs last night, the way things were going inside that game.
“So when you look at the advantage of cap space, again, that has to be a priority for Marc Bergevin, is trying to find somebody who can fit that model.”
Dreger adds that it should be a high priority for GM Marc Bergevin.