On Ilya Kovalchuk …
Amar Basu: Darren Dreger was on TSN 690 and said that Ilya Kovalchuk will probably be looking for a contract similar to what the Toronto Maple Leafs gave Patrick Marleau (three years, $16.75 million). Dreger adds that he may want more and that he expects him to get it.
On the New Jersey Devils and New York Islanders …
Jim Matheson: Wonder if NY Islanders Lou Lamoriello would call up NJ Devils GM Ray Shero to see if he’d move goaltender Cory Schneider. If the Devils think Keith Kinkaid could be a No 1 goaltender, could they get the No. 11 or No. 12 pick from the Islanders?
On the Montreal Canadians …
Chris Nichols of FRS Hockey: Elliotte Friedman was on Sportsnet 960 and was saying that he still thinks the Canadiens will trade Max Pacioretty this offseason.
“I still think he’s likely getting dealt,” indicated Friedman. “Again, it’s interesting. I think if he’s going to get traded, I think he’d be happy to go to somewhere like Florida, and I could see the possibility that Florida is somewhere there – but you’ve got to make a deal, right. I know that Montreal’s ask around the deadline was really high. I think it involved Trocheck and possibly more, and Florida wasn’t going to do that.
“I think the good thing that happened for Montreal and even a team like Pittsburgh… Pacioretty has got one year left at 4.5, Kessel has got four years left at 6.8. Evander Kane just signed for 7 X 7, so that’s good news for James van Riemsdyk, but that’s also potentially good news for Pittsburgh and Montreal because there are some teams that are going to look at that and either say A, ‘We’re not doing that,’ or B, ‘We’re not in that market,’ so that increases the likelihood or value or guys who have better contracts.”
Friedman notes that the asking price for Pacioretty is still going to be high, but he’s still likely to get traded. Friedman adds that the pressure to make the playoffs isn’t as high in Montreal and they may rebuild a bit, so they could take a bit of futures in a deal.