On the New York Islanders …
Jimmy Murphy: A source is saying that the Islanders have been telling GM’s not to bother asking about John Tavares till at least January 1st 30th.
Jimmy Murphy: The reason for January 1st 30th is that it’s the day that the Islanders or the Barclays Center are officially able to opt out of their arena deal.
Jimmy Murphy: Tavares is willing to negotiate with the Islanders before and decide after January 1st 30th when the Islanders have a better idea about their arena plans.
Jimmy Murphy: Correcting – January 30th is opt-out date and not January 1st as noted in previous tweets.
On the St. Louis Blues …
Dan Murphy: Scottie Upshall signing with the Blues is expected to happen . He wasn’t at the Rogers Arena last night. (PTO with Canucks)
Dan Murphy: Upshall’s deal with the Blues is believed to be for one-year, $800,000.
Irfaan Gaffar: Hearing that Upshall is on his way to St. Louis.
Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: GM Doug Armstrong indicated yesterday that they are more likely to fill Robby Fabbri’s center spot internally.
Armstrong said they are at other options including Jaromir Jagr, but outside a trade, there aren’t many options, and they have salary cap complications.
“I would say that in a 31-team league, potential offensive players are usually on a team right now,” Armstrong said. “So it’s going to have to be a trade of a player to get that. But I think we’re gonna have to score by committee.
“If (Samuel) Blais makes the team, if (Tage) Thompson makes the team, if (Ivan) Barbashev makes the team, if (Oskar) Sundqvist makes the team — some of these guys are gonna have to produce offense and we’re gonna need offense throughout that lineup.”
Armstrong added:
“We’re not gonna make a bad trade. We’re not gonna overpay to do something. We’re not in a vulnerable situation, but we do have to explore different avenues.”