On the Los Angeles Kings and the Vegas Golden Knights …
Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic: (before Jeff Carter’s injury) If the Kings feel they need to upgrade their top-nine before the trade deadline, they could offer up defensemen Jake Muzzin or Alec Martinez. Both carry a $4 million cap hit – Muzzin through 2019-20 and Martinez through 2020-21. The Kings want to look at some of their young players before going the trade route.
The Golden Knights may be hoping a team suffers an injury to their blue line and increases an offer for a defenseman. The Knights need to move two defensemen. They think that if they put Griffin Reinhart on waivers, someone will claim him.
On the Montreal Canadiens …
Chris Nichols: Pierre LeBrun on TSN 690 on Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin scouting the Islanders: “I have yet to identify whether the Canadiens are seriously looking at anyone there.”
Eric Engels: The Canadiens currently have $8.9 million in salary cap space, and if they nothing change between now and the trade deadline, they would be able to add $38.9 million in combined cap hits.
Chris Nichols of FanRag Sports: Elliotte Friedman on the NHL Network before the Montreal Canadiens game last night. The Canadiens are not off to a good start and they are under a lot of heat. They have cap space, but might not use it just yet.
“I think the other thing that’s happening there right now is they’ve got $9 million in cap space. And everybody is sitting there saying, ‘What are they going to do with it.’ I think the Canadiens are going to hold that cap space to make the biggest move that they potentially can.
“And look – we heard the owner’s comments about Tavares. If it ever becomes a situation where he goes on the market or becomes available, they’re going to be all-in. And I wouldn’t be surprised if they hold their cap space until something potentially like that becomes available, no matter how many wolves are baying at the moon.”