On the Philadelphia Flyers, Detroit Red Wings, Calgary Flames, St. Louis Blues, Edmonton Oilers, Pittsburgh Penguins and Dallas Stars …
Craig Custance of ESPN: (mailbag) Many teams are looking for a defenseman and could call the Philadelphia Flyers about pending free agents Mark Streit and Michael Del Zotto. Streit has value. The Hurricanes were able to get a third and fifth round pick for John-Michael Liles and the Oilers got a third round pick for Justin Schultz last year.
The Detroit Red Wings will likely be sellers. May be impossible for the Red Wings to trade Mike Green ($6 million cap hit) or Jimmy Howard ($5.3 million cap hit) in-season. The Wings could retain a portion of their salaries, but get the sense GM Ken Holland doesn’t want to do that. Teams usually love to add veteran depth like Steve Ott. Have to temper return expectations for Thomas Vanek.
Custance spoke with one GM who is itching to make a trade now as he wants more time for that player to get acclimated with the team. It can take players weeks for them to get comfortable with their new team. Teams are hesitant to trade now though.
Custance thinks the Calgary Flames would like to add a defenseman and a scoring winger. The Flames have some organizational depth in net with Jon Gillies and Tyler Parsons. Wonder if they would consider trading one of them for a player that could help them out now.
The St. Louis Blues are an interesting team to watch because of the Kevin Shattenkirk situation. Some are convinced that they will trade Shattenkirk at the deadline. The Blues don’t have to trade him though. Can keep him for their playoff run. GM Doug Armstong doesn’t have a problem with letting pending free agents walk. An ideal trade for the Blues may see them land a center. Coyotes Martin Hanzal makes the most sense.
Think the Washington Capitals will make the biggest splash at the deadline.
Bubble buyers include the Tampa Bay Lightning, Calgary Flames and Boston Bruins.
Think the best fit for Jarome Iginla is the Edmonton Oilers.
Marc-Andre Fleury is the only good candidate for the Dallas Stars. GM Jim Nill is only making a trade for a goalie if it helps them now and in the future. If the Penguins traded Fleury now, it could give them some extra salary cap space to make other deals, and it would help solve their expansion draft problem. The Penguins would buy Fleury out over leaving Matt Murray unprotected.
