On the Edmonton Oilers …
Frank Seravalli of TSN: Something doesn’t seem right with the Oilers core. Defenseman Andrej Sekera remains out with an injury, and they moved on from Jordan Eberle, but they haven’t clicked like they did last year.
GM Peter Chiarelli doesn’t think they’ve gotten slower as a team, but are just “playing slower.”
Chiarelli said to not expect a short-term major overall in an attempt to turn things around.
“Listen, all of the teams in the league need more help,” Chiarelli said. “I believe in the team. But I think at this point, these guys have to figure it out also.”
On the Ottawa Senators …
Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun: Senators GM Pierre Dorion doesn’t appear to be in a rush to add another forward. He has been looking since the start of training camp, but they’ve been happy with the play of recent call-up Chris DiDomenico.
Defenseman Chris Wideman has been playing forward. Zack Smith will eventually come back from injury. The Senators want to see how Matt Duchene and Bobby Ryan play together.
The Senators will likely need to add some depth at some point in the season though, but there is no urgency at the moment.
On the Montreal Canadiens and New York Islanders …
Matt Larkin of The Hockey News: (mailbag) Trading Carey Price before his big contract extension kicks in would be an unprecedented move. IF they were to move him, they would need elite prospects and high draft picks. IF you trade Price, you then immediately start shopping defenseman Shea Weber and forward Max Pacioretty and go into full rebuild mode. If GM Marc Bergeron did something like this, he’s basically admitting he messed up and would be asking to be fired. doesn’t think trading Price is a realistic idea.
Would be a shock if the Islanders offered Jaroslav Halak a contract extension. Halak will likely test free agency come July 1st. Halak hasn’t outplayed Thomas Greiss, and the Islanders have prospects in Linus Soderstrom and Ilya Sorokin. Greiss is under contract for two more years.