On the Los Angeles Kings and Colorado Avalanche …
David Pagnotta: The Avalanche have been scouting the Kings (NHL and AHL). Don’t get the sense that the Kings are any closer to making a trade. They are exploring their options.
Adrian Dater: It would take more than Jake Muzzin to land Gabriel Landeskog. The Avalanche have been scouting the Kings AHL team heavily recently.
AJ Haefele: “It just doesn’t make sense. This feels like far too public a courting for this to be anything but a smoke screen”
On the Winnipeg Jets …
Chris Nichols of FanRag Sports: Elliotte Friedman on Sportsnet 960 talking about the Winnipeg Jets. Friedman notes that head coach Paul Maurice has a year left on his deal, and he thinks the Jets could talk contract extension with him this offseason.
“I think they’re looking at it this way: No. 1, they feel that their goaltending is not set. I think they’re going to deal with that at some point. I don’t know who specifically the answer is going to be, but I think they’re going to look at a short-term guy who can come in there and give them time until Helllebuyck is really ready to do the job. That’s No. 1.
“No. 2: The other thing I feel strongly there is that he plays their kids because they want to discover what they really have… A lot of us would be surprised at how many times a team hires a coach and they say, ‘Play the kids.’ And the coach realizes he’s got a shelf life and he doesn’t want to play the kids. Paul Maurice legitimately will play them there, and I think they feel that’s important for them. So I think they’re just looking at it like, ‘We’re going to battle through this and we’re not changing the coach.’ That’s the plan, anyway.