On the Anaheim Ducks, Vegas Golden Knights, St. Louis Blues, Toronto Maple Leafs …
Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet: There were some rumblings that the Anaheim Ducks might have some interest in Montreal Canadiens forward Alex Galchenyuk. doesn’t think there is a match.
Trade talk has picked up, but a couple GMs warned it may be just finding out what teams might be willing to do.
The Vegas Golden Knights have decisions to make at some point on pending UFAs James Neal and David Perron. Buffalo Sabres winger Evander Kane is another pending UFA.
Sounding like there hasn’t been a firm offer to Danis Zaripov from the St. Louis Blues. They may have been offering a PTO.
wonders if the Edmonton Oilers talked to the Toronto Maple Leafs about Josh Leivo or Nikita Soshnikov before they traded for Mike Cammalleri. The cost to acquire Leivo or Soshnikov would have been higher. The Leafs aren’t going to move them for a discounted price.
The Maple Leafs seem to have a grip on pending KHL UFA defenseman Igor Ozhiganov.
Teams will be watching pending UFA Bogdan Kiselevich at the Karjala Cup.
There is some talk that former Oiler Vladimir Tkachev is considering potential NHL return.
On the Arizona Coyotes and the Toronto Maple Leafs …
Chris Nichols of FanRag Sports: Bob McKenzie was on TSN 1050 in Toronto. When asked about what is going on with the Arizona Coyotes. McKenzie notes that Coyotes brought in Derek Stepan and Niklas Hjalmarsson, a new coach, but nothing has worked. There have some goaltending issues and defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson hasn’t played well.
“But I don’t think at this point in time Arizona is contemplating anything with Oliver Ekman-Larsson. That said, he’s unrestricted at the end of next season… if you’re Oliver Ekman-Larsson – even though you might be part of the problem right now, and let’s not let him off the hook because he hasn’t been playing well – that whole environment and what’s gone on with Arizona, do you really want to re-up there. And if you don’t, and you send that signal out, then at some point in time obviously he might be a player that comes into play.
“But that’s obviously the type of defenseman that would be really useful on the Toronto Maple Leafs. Now the flip side is, as I said, you can always make discretionary decisions to make the money work. But there’s a guy who’s making (a $5.5 million cap hit with $6.5 in actual salary this season and then $7 million in 2018-19). Oliver Ekman-Larsson long term is not going to be cheap, and with everything else the Leafs have to do it starts to become a challenge.”
McKenzie notes that Jake Gardiner will be a free agent after next season.