On the New York Islanders …
Arthur Staple: Can recall that the pre-draft asking price for Matt Duchene from the New York Islanders was defenseman Travis Hamonic, forward Mathew Barzal and goaltender Ilya Sorokin and a 1st round pick.
On the Ottawa Senators …
Chris Johnston: Senators GM Pierre Dorion said that Kyle Turris‘ representatives never gave them a six-year contract extension option. It was always either seven or eight years.
Ray Ferraro: If (the above) was the case, Kyle Turris basically told the Senators that he wasn’t going to remain with the team past July.
Kyle Bukauskas: Dorion on Turris contract negotiations: “We felt we were never going to see the light at the end of the tunnel.” Dorion added that a trade request was never made.
Chris Stevenson: Dorion said they thought they had the trade completed on Friday and that they had a plane ready to pick up Matt Duchene and to get there in time for their game on Saturday.
Eric Engels: “Looking forward to seeing what else Ottawa does on the trade market between now and March. They’ve retained their most appealing assets.”
On the Carolina Hurricanes …
Luke DeCock of the Raleigh News & Observer: The Carolina Hurricanes sit four points out of playoff spot (heading into last night), with a 1-4-2 record in their past seven games.
DeCock wonders “whether the status quo, whether that’s on the coaching staff or on the roster, is going to get the job done.”
The easiest fix is a coaching change, but it doesn’t appear that change is “immediately forthcoming.”
The Hurricanes are weak at center and they have too many perimeter wingers.
GM Ron Francis hasn’t made a challenging player-for-player trade yet.
Francis is patient. Firing a coach in November isn’t patient. They are running out of time to be patient though.