Would the Montreal Canadiens trade the No. 5 pick? Should they have interest in Trevor Zegras?
Stu Cowan of the Montreal Gazette: (mailbag) The Montreal Canadiens hold the No. 5 pick in the NHL draft. They’re organizationally deep on the blue line and should be eyeing scoring forwards.
The only way the Canadiens should consider trading the fifth overall pick is for a young, proven goal scorer.
It’s hard to say how much interest the Canadiens would have in Anaheim Ducks forward Trevor Zegras. He has two years left on his deal at $5.75 million per. They should have an interest in him. Zegras is a good friend of Cole Caufield and the two are playing together at the World Championships.
NHL Rumors: Maple Leafs, Flames, Canadiens, Jets, Utah, and the Golden Knights
The Chicago Blackhawks would like to add a top-six forward and a top-four defenseman
Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times: Chicago Blackhawks GM Kyle Davidson thinks they are ready to take a step forward next year. He knows they have to get deeper and they can address that in the offseason.
‘‘Hopefully we can build something in the summer — whether it’s trades, free agency or the development of some of our young players that push for spots — so that guys are coming into camp knowing they’ve got to earn a spot on this team because there are other players right beside them fighting for the same spots,’’ Davidson said.
‘‘It’s important to create a culture of competition and . . . force players to elevate their own games. That’s the goal. We still maintain an eye on being responsible with what we do from a long-term perspective, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t better our situation in the short term, too.’’
Davidson’s long-term goal is to continue to develop and preserve cap space, so they won’t sacrifice that this offseason.
NHL Rumors: Carolina Hurricanes, Vegas Golden Knights, and Detroit Red Wings
Don’t expect to see the likes of Jake Guentzel, Sam Reinhart and Mitch Marner wearing a Blackhawks jersey next. They would like to add a top-six forward and top-four defenseman.
Potential targets could include Jake DeBrusk, Teuvo Teravainen, Chris Tanev and Alexandre Carrier