On the New Jersey Devils …
Chris Ryan of NJ.com: (mailbag) The Devils aren’t going to trade Adam Henrique for the sake of trading him.
The Devils have some forwards, prospects, and draft picks to move it they want, but they won’t give up a lot of futures for a short-term rental. Ideally, they would like to add a defenseman. Some defensemen that have term left on their contract and have been in the rumor mill this past year:
Sami Vatanen, Anaheim Ducks
Alec Martinez, Los Angeles Kings
Luca Sbisa, Vegas Golden Knights
Jonas Brodin, Minnesota Wild
Tyson Barrie, Colorado Avalanche
On the Columbus Blue Jackets and Edmonton Oilers …
Chris Nichols of FanRag Sports: Darren Dreger on TSN 1050 on Tuesday and was asked if there could be any trades made anytime soon.
“Well, Brad Treliving and Peter Chiarelli watched the Buffalo game last night,” indicated Dreger. “And I know that Jason Botterill at least spent some of that game talking with his two fellow general managers. And Edmonton for certain is looking for a defenseman. I think that Buffalo would like to add a defenseman as well, but they’ve got Zach Bogosian, who is real close to coming off injury. He should be practicing with the team later this week. So best case scenario, maybe 10 days. Ristolainen is coming back. So help is on its way in Buffalo from a defensive perspective. So Edmonton is looking for a defenseman, and that doesn’t fit Buffalo’s needs.
“A lot of people swirling around the Columbus Blue Jackets and Ryan Murray. We seem to want to talk about Ryan Murray almost on an annual basis now, from a trade perspective. No question the Blue Jackets and Colorado Avalanche had multiple conversations about Duchene because that’s what Columbus is looking for. Columbus is looking for a centerman and it’s believed that Ryan Murray would have been part of that deal.”
Dreger says that back at the 2017 NHL draft the Blue Jackets would have considered a top pick for Murray, but now they are looking for a player-for-player deal and are interested in adding a center. wonders about Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, but adds he’s playing well and they may not be interested in trading him now.