Senators looking to move Stepan and clear up some space on their blue line
Sportsnet: Elliotte Friedman said that the Ottawa Senators are looking at potentially trading forward Derek Stepan.
“Ottawa is moving to try and make a move with Derek Stepan,” Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman said. “I don’t think this is a performance issue as much as it’s a family issue. He’s away from his family and I think they want to get him closer.”
Bruce Garrioch: “As I noted on @TSNHockey Thursday, Derek Stepan was excited to get dealt to the #Sens , but the reality of not seeing his family until May 8 make the situation difficult. The couple has three children _ including a newborn _ and a visit would require 14-day quarantine.”
Friedman also notes on the number of defensemen the Senators have.
“Also the other situation there is they now have a lot of bodies on their blue line. Erik Brannstrom after a long quarantine is back and ready to go, playing well. Artem Zub is playing well.
I think they are looking to lessen the load on their D was well.”
** NHLRumors.com transcription
The Canucks could look to move Virtanen as a short-term shakeup
Sportsnet: Chris Johnston when asked what he’s hearing with the Vancouver Canucks as they continue to struggle.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
“Well on top of all that, they’ve got a game every other day it seems like. They’ve had a number of back-to-backs. I mean, the pressure is obviously mounting here and the heat is being turned up.
What I can tell you from an number of conversations in the last day or two is, there is a lot of ideas out there of what they may or may not do, but this is a challenging season to shake things up for a number of reasons.
The one thing I do wonder about is if Jake Virtanen is someone they end up giving a fresh start too. He’s had a tough start to the year. He’s been in and out of the lineup. He’s scratched tonight in Toronto. Maybe there is a feeling that, that could be a short-term move that might shock their group a little bit and might be something that suits the player and the organization as well.”