Habs in on McElhinney
Pierre LeBrun: Have been hearing that there are three teams showing interest in goaltender Curtis McElhinney, including the Montreal Canadiens. Don’t believe that the Toronto Maple Leafs are one of the teams.
Down to two teams for Donskoi
Pierre LeBrun: It seems like it’s down to the Colorado Avalanche and an unidentified team on free agent winger Joonas Donskoi. Things can obviously change quickly.
Don’t believe the Edmonton Oilers and Buffalo Sabres are in the mix anymore.
Blue Jackets have plenty of cap space to use if they want
Jeff Svoboda of NHL.com: The Columbus Blue Jackets have close to $30 million in cap space heading into free agency. They still need to re-sign RFAs Zach Werenski and Ryan Murray.
The Blue Jackets could look at the trade market. They’ll have to keep in mind that Josh Anderson and Pierre-Luc Dubois will be needing next contract after next season.
“There will be a lot of different options,” Kekalainen said after the NHL draft last weekend. “If it’s not free agency, it could be a trade. We’ll look at all of those.
“We don’t need to use (the cap space),” he added. “We’ll use it if we think it’s going to be something we feel strongly about and will put us in a good position to compete again. Otherwise, we have a lot of good young players coming, so we’re going to make sure they get a proper opportunity as well.”
Trade route more likely for Blackhawks than free agency
John Dietz of the Daily Herald: The Chicago Blackhawks likely aren’t in on any of the big named free agents, but they could still be looking a lesser forward or two in the free agent or trade market.
Free agent targets could be Pat Maroon, Joonas Donskoi, Ryan Carpenter or Brandon Tanev, though GM Stan Bowman will likely be trying the trade route.
It wouldn’t be a surprise if Artem Anisimov, Erik Gustafsson or Henri Jokiharju were used in a trade package. If Gustafsson turns in another solid season he may price himself out of Chicago next year when he becomes a UFA. They could also look to move Brandon Saad at some point.
Some free agents they could look at include Ryan Dzingel, Micheal Ferland, Brett Connolly, Brian Boyle and Corey Perry.