On the Tampa Bay Lightning …
- Chris Nichols of Today’s Slapshot: Bob McKenzie on NBCSN NHL Live on if the Lightning will trade Jonathan Drouin by the trade deadline.
“Right now Jonathan Drouin is at home, north of Montreal, awaiting a trade. The teams that we believe have been interested in Jonathan Drouin – St. Louis, the New York Rangers, Minnesota Wild, Montreal Canadiens, Ottawa Senators, amongst others – appear to continue to be interested. There is some dialogue going on between Steve Yzerman (and teams).
“The question that has to be asked is Jonathan Drouin a diminishing asset between now and February 29, or will the interest in Drouin peak as they get closer to the 29th.”
- Adrian Dater: A Jonathan Drouin trade to the Avalanche is a long-shot in Dater’s opinion.
- Adrian Dater: The more people Dater talks to about Jonathan Drouin, and the more he hears that they are turned off by his holdout.
On the Arizona Coyotes …
- Chris Nichols of Today’s Slapshot: Bob McKenzie on TSN 1040 on the Coyotes pending UFA Mikkel Boedker. The 27-year old is fast, strong, has good size, is a 20-30 goal scorer, and a 50-60 point a season guy. He could do well on the open market like Michael Frolik did last year. McKenzie thinks a team may not be against giving someone like Boedker a six or seven year deal around $5 million per season. The Coyotes will have Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Max Domi and Anthony Duclair coming up in a few years, could the Coyotes afford $5 million on a long-term deal?
“SO I WOULD THINK THAT THE COACHING STAFF WANTS THIS GUY BACK. I WOULD THINK THAT OWNERSHIP WANTS THIS GUY BACK. I WOULD THINK THAT THIS HAS GOT TO BE A PRIORITY FOR ARIZONA TO TRY AND PROVE, ‘HEY, WHEN OUR RELATIVELY YOUNGER PLAYERS’ – OR CORE PLAYERS, AS YOU IDENTIFY HIM, AND I THINK THAT’S FAIR TO GIVE HIM THE CORE PLAYER LABEL IN ARIZONA – ‘WHEN OUR CORE PLAYERS BECOME AVAILABLE, WE’VE GOT TO STEP UP AND MAKE SURE THEY DON’T LEAVE.’ OTHERWISE, YOU GET INTO THIS ENDLESS CYCLE OF NEVER HAVING GOOD OLDER PLAYERS IN YOUR LINEUP.
“SO I THINK THAT’S A PRIORITY FOR THEM. BUT THEY CAN’T LET THIS GUY WALK EITHER. SO I IMAGINE THERE WILL BE LOTS OF NEGOTIATIONS OVER THE NEXT TWO-TO-THREE WEEKS AND THEY’LL SEE WHERE THEY’RE AT. IF THE WEEK BEFORE THE DEADLINE THEY DON’T HAVE A DEAL DONE WITH HIM, THEN THOSE SCOUTS THAT ARE BEATING A PATH TO SEE MIKKEL BOEDKER PLAY MIGHT BE VERY EXCITED TO GET A CRACK AT HIM ON THE TRADE MARKET.”