On the Edmonton Oilers …
David Staples of the Edmonton Journal: Had Travis Hamonic still wanted to be traded, the price to acquire him would have been higher for the Oilers than it would for Sami Vatanen or Tyson Barrie, but they will be looking for more money on a new deal.
There had been rumors that it would have cost the Oilers Jordan Eberle or Ryan Nugent-Hopkins for Hamonic. Both are valuable to the Oilers as Eberle is their only right-handed scoring threat and their depth down the middle really drops off after their top three.
On the Anaheim Ducks and Calgary Flames …
Elliotte Friedman: The Ducks and Flames have asked the Wild permission to interview Mike Yeo for their head coaching vacancies. Talk is Ducks assistant coach Paul MacLean has interviewed for the their vacancy already.
On the St. Louis Blues …
Craig Custance: There have been some scouts following the Blues to watch David Backes and Troy Brouwer this postseason. Custance isn’t sure if they will hit the open market with the way they’ve been playing.
On the New York Islanders …
Brett Cyrgalis of the NY Post: Jaroslav Halak might not be with the Islanders next season. Thomas Greiss took over the starting job and the Islanders are very high on J-F Berube. Halak has two years left on his contract with a $4.5 million cap hit and could be a trade chip for the Islanders. The Islanders are not planning on having a three-goalie system next season. Halak:
“it’s not ideal,” and added, “I’ve tried to tell , and this is not up to me.
“I like it here, but they just have to decide which way they want to go for next season. J-F is a young goalie, Greisser played well all season long. So we’ll see.”
Halak – 36 games, 2.30 GAA and .919 save percentage.
Greiss – 41 games, 2.36 GAA and a .925 save percentage. He carries a $1.5 million cap hit for one more season.
