On the Edmonton Oilers …
Mike Kelly: It may not be smart for the Oilers to trade Taylor Hall, but how else are they going to be able to trade for a top pairing defenseman? Jordan Eberle, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins or Nail Yakupov won’t land them a top pairing Dman.
Brennan Klak: The Oilers already have three left wingers in their top-nine – Hall, Pouliot and Maroon. Milan Lucic is also a left winger. Their right wingers are more questionable.
Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal: The Oilers will likely take a look at signing Milan Lucic. The Oilers would then likely have to trade one of their $6 million men – Taylor Hall, Jordan Eberle or Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.
The Oilers might give five years for Lucic.
The Canucks will also be interested in signing Lucic.
On the Montreal Canadiens …
Pierre LeBrun: Hearing that the Canadiens are getting a lot more calls about P.K. Subban in the past couple days.
On the Boston Bruins …
Joe Haggerty of CSNNE: The Bruins are interested in trading for Kevin Shattenkirk and a few others. It would be hard for the Bruins to acquire a Hampus Lindholm or Matt Dumba with the Oilers possibly dangling Taylor Hall and the Avs with the Matt Duchene.
Haggerty wonders if the Bruins should do a big offer sheet to Columbus Blue Jackets RFA defenseman Seth Jones.
The Bruins don’t have have a 2017 2nd (Lee Stempniak trade) or 3rd round pick (Zac Rinaldo trade). So they could currently only do an offer that involved just first round picks. A $9.3 million cap hit would cost the Bruins four first-round picks for an offer sheet.
The Bruins would have to make some other moves to fit Jones in.
Haggerty admits that it’s a ridiculous overpayment and a very bold move.
On the Columbus Post-Dispatch …
Aaron Portzline: Seth Jones’ agent, Pat Brisson, said that contract talks are continuing on a new deal, but there is “nothing to report.”