Vladimir Tarasenko in control and likely to be dealt
Pierre LeBrun: Vladimir Tarasenko switched agents for the second time in the past seven month. He’s now with Newport Sports.
Tarasenko has a full no-trade clause. He’ll likely be traded by the deadline.
The Montreal Canadiens could get a good return for David Savard if they want
Marco D’Amico: If the Montreal Canadiens decide to make defenseman David Savard available, they’ll want a first-round pick plus for him.
“The right-handedness, the coveted defensive style, his cap hit, the Stanley Cup experience and his improved offensive touch in MTL would make him highly sought after.”
The Arizona Coyotes did talk to the State this week but no update like some had thought
Sportsnet: Elliotte Friedman on Saturday headlines on the Arizona Coyotes situation and Utah.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Ron McLean: “So you mentioned Ryan Smith, everything that he says has to deal with expansion. That’s the way he’s framing it, which sounds like Gary Bettman is in his ear on that one. But what are you hearing, either from the commissioner or about Arizona because that’s got to be a domino to drop.”
Friedman: “Well, there was a lot of noise this week about the Coyotes, no question about it. And some of us thought, and I was one of them, that we might get an announcement this weekend about kind of where things are going with their next potential building or any kind of future the team.
Now I don’t think that’s going to happen. I think that it might be a little bit of time before we get any clarification from the team, which did discuss the potential of a new building with the area, with the State this week. I mean, we’ve been through this story a lot. We’ve heard this all before. I don’t see any real need to re-litigate it.
I think for a lot of us it’s just tell us the end result when it knows, but I don’t think we’re gonna get any clarity in the next 24 to 48 hours or anything like that, as we had suspected.
Now the owner Alex Morello did let the employees know this week that he will address them next week. So hopefully he’ll give them a bit more clarity. But I don’t think we should expect any more clarity in the short-term future like what we were hoping or expecting this weekend, Ron.