On the Montreal Canadiens …
Eric Engels of Sportsnet: Plenty of speculation that the Montreal Canadiens will select Jesperi Kotkaniemi with their first-round pick. A week ago it looked like the Canadiens were going to select Filip Zadina. Renaud Lavoie reported on Tuesday that the Canadiens had dinner with Brady Tkachuk in Buffalo, but no decision about the No. 3 pick had been made.
Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin on trading down and acquiring a roster/nhl-ready player for their No. 3 pick.
“As much as a team wants to move back or move up, if there’s no takers or buyers then you just sit where you’re at,” Bergevin said on Saturday.
On the Buffalo Sabres …
Bill Hoppe of Buffalo Hockey Beat: Robin Lehner’s days in Buffalo could be coming to an end. If the Sabres are not able to trade him at the draft, they could opt to not qualify him at $4 million, therefore making him an unrestricted free agent.
It’s not known if/which teams would be interested in Lehner. He may be better suited for a backup role.
If they move on from Lehner, they will need to bring in another goalie. Pending UFA Chad Johnson made it clear he wasn’t interested in re-signing. The free agent market may not hold much so the Sabres could look to make a deal.
Pending UFA goalies they could consider include Carter Hutton, Jonathan Bernier, Kari Lehtonen, and Michael Hutchinson.
On the Calgary Flames …
Eric Francis of the Calgary Sun: Flames GM Brad Treliving notes that their can be “a domino effect” once trades start happening.
“Traditionally when one deal happens it moves the needle a bit. There are some bigger names people are waiting to see what happens to. Everybody is together this week and everybody is trying to see if they can make themselves better.”
Treliving can’t predict if he’ll be one of the teams making moves. The Flames don’t have a pick until the fourth round, so names like Sam Bennett, Dougie Hamilton and TJ Brodie have come up.
“We’ve got some areas and ideas of things we want to do, and if it takes longer it takes longer — we’re not going to panic,” said Treliving of the process of trying to find a trade partner for a deal that makes sense.
“We can’t force something that’s not there.”