On the Detroit Red Wings …
The Fourth Period: Pending free agent winger Thomas Vanek is getting the most interest. Steve Ott and Brendan Smith could also be moved. Vanek carries a $2.6 million cap hit.
Team that have shown interest in Vanek include the Anaheim Ducks, Ottawa Senators, Chicago Blackhawks, Florida Panthers and Los Angeles Kings. It’s not known what the Red Wings are looking for, for Vanek, but it likely starts with a first round pick, or a second round pick and a prospect.
Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press: The Red Wings will protect Danny DeKeyser and Mike Green for the expansion draft. The third could depend on whether they re-sign Brendan Smith. If they are able to re-sign him in the $3.5 to $3.75 million range, they will protect him.
The Wings could also trade for a defenseman after the season and before the expansion draft and protect him.
If they don’t re-sign Smith, and don’t trade for a defenseman, they would likely make Nick Jensen their third protected defenseman. That would mean they’d expose Jonathan Ericsson, Niklas Kronwall, Xavier Oullet and Ryan Sproul.
On the Vegas Golden Knights …
Jeremy Rutherford: Talked to Vegas GM George McPhee yesterday about how active they’ve been with the trade deadline next week: “We’ve had some conversations that really appeal to us, some things that have been discussed. We’d like to follow up on some of that”
* Vegas won’t have their payment made by March 1st, so they are not eligible to make any trades.
On the Vancouver Canucks …
Farhan Lalji: Forward Jannik Hansen said he submitted a list of eight teams that he would accept a trade too. He said seven of them are playoff teams and one is a preferred city.
TSN 1040: Canucks GM Jim Benning said that he’s asked his players that hold no-trade clauses for a list of teams that they would accept a trade to.