- Jeremy Rutherford of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: The Blues are looking for someone to add some scoring and could look to add a top-end center. They have checked in on Jason Spezza, Ryan Kesler and others.
“You hear the names being bandied around, but that’s mostly in social media,” Blues general manager Doug Armstrong said. “We’re obviously in contact with all 29 other teams. Some players that you hear about are maybe in play and some aren’t. You just have to deal with reality.”
Spezza would be intriguing for the Blues, but the asking price is a top-six forward, top prospect and a first round pick.
“Teams always ask for a lot,” Armstrong said. “That’s why there’s no deals made until the deadlines, whether it’s the trade deadline or the draft. It’s because the marketplace is usually higher. If there’s a need, you pay that price. If there’s not a hard desire, you let it play out. If you let it play out and get too cute, you don’t get the player. But if you’re not comfortable with the price, that’s probably the best decision.”
If the Blues don’t work out a trade, they could be forced to overpay in the free agent market. Paul Stastny and Thomas Vanek are the top names that could be available.
- Ken Campbell of The Hockey News: The Kings have about $12.1 million to re-sign Marian Gaborik, Willie Mitchell, Dwight King and re-sign or replace Matt Greene. The Kings will have to watch their numbers for 2015 as they’ll be busy with future RFAs: Jake Muzzin, Kyle Clifford, Tanner Pearson, Tyler Toffoli and Jordan Nolan. They’ll 2015 UFAs in: Alec Martinez, Justin Williams, Jarret Stoll and Robyn Regehr. Anze Kopitar is scheduled to become a UFA in 2016.