May not be totally quiet in Montreal
Eric Macramalla: Would bet that Montreal Canadiens GM Kent Hughes makes a trade or two despite the reports that the Canadiens will have a “quiet” trade deadline.
There are teams that get desperate and will look to plug some of their holes.
Should the Bruins look for depth scoring or help on the blue line?
Steve Conroy: Can see the Boston Bruins trading for someone like Jakob Chychrun could move the needle a bit. Trading for Vladislav Gavrikov seems like more of an insurance move. Would rather see the Bruins going after some more scoring depth to their bottom-six.
The Nashville Predators are day-to-day
Alex Daugherty: Nashville Predators GM David Poile said that the team is “day-to-day” with regards to being a seller at the trade deadline or not. They are “in a grey area.”
Last week he said that their weekend games against the Bruins, Panthers and Wild being really important, and Poile walked back on that a bit.
The Nashville Predators are testing the market, including Mattias Ekholm
TSN: The Nashville Predators have given up on the playoffs just yet, but Pierre LeBrun thinks GM David Poile has to see what his options are and he’s spoken with the teams over the past few days about some of his players.
“Notably, the player of interest for a lot of teams is Mattias Ekholm. He is a top four veteran defenceman and, at 32 years old, still has a couple more years left on his contract at $6.25 million and that might scare off some teams, but he is of interest. So again, the Preds aren’t full on sellers, but they’ve begun to investigate the market. Keep an eye on them.”
The Detroit Red Wings will take their chances with Tyler Bertuzzi
TSN: Unless the rails come off this week and just before the deadline, the Detroit Red Wings will give their current group the opportunity to make a playoff push according to Darren Dreger.
“They’re willing to take their chances on a contract extension with (Tyler) Bertuzzi on July 1. Again, a lot can change between now and March 3. But the Red Wings are trying to lock down a playoff spot.”