Are the Rangers still eyeing Miller?
Larry Brooks of the NY Post: If the New York Rangers are going to want to acquire J.T. Miller to play on the right side with Artemi Panarin and Ryan Strome, they are going to have to pay a high price.
With a year left at $5.2 million, the Vancouver Canucks are not in a rush to trade him.
“Would you love to have a top-end skill guy who scores a lot of goals on that line?” Gallant asked rhetorically on Friday when asked about the line’s composition. “There’s a salary cap just like every other team has, and you wish for certain things, but I like Huntsie there.
“When he’s playing good hockey, I like what he does there and the most important thing is that both those guys like him.”
Hurricanes could use a defenseman
Luke DeCock of the Raleigh News & Observer: Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Anthony DeAngelo will be out until around the trade deadline. Will the Hurricanes make a move or stand pat?
They could use a top-four defenseman to play with Jaccob Slavin.
Hurricanes GM Don Waddell said they wouldn’t mind adding a defenseman.
“A defenseman would be nice. If you get into a long playoff run, you can easily go through nine or 10 defensemen. But in saying that, we’re also in LTI (long-term injured reserve). We’re not growing any cap space.”
The Hurricanes are already using LTIR space and don’t have much to work with. They also don’t have a first-round pick this year as it’s going to the Montreal Canadiens from the Jesperi Kotkaniemi offer sheet. Waddel said they won’t move their 2023 first-round pick.
2019 first-round pick Ryan Suzuki could be made available. Would the Montreal Canadiens be interested in acquiring Nick’s brother?
They may need a team to retain salary or get a third team involved. They don’t want to give up a roster player.
“That’s the avenue, if we do go into the trade deadline, the chips you’re going to use are some of your young prospects,” Waddell said. “We like everybody on our team. We don’t want to hurt our team at this point.”