On the Ottawa Senators …
- James Gordon: Can’t understand that Colin White or Thomas Chabot are untouchables. If the Senators are serious about winning now, you include them in a Jonathan Drouin trade.
- Ken Warren of the Ottawa Sun: Clarke MacArthur is making progress with his concussion and is aiming for an early March return. He’s planning on travelling with the team on their Western road trip. If the Senators are will in the playoff race, he could return, but if they are out it, they will have some decisions make it if it’s worth coming back or waiting until next year.
“That’s the next talk,” he said. “I want to be ready for that (early) March time frame. That’s my personal goal. But if we’re out of it, is it worth it? I don’t know. We’ll see what the boss says about that and go from there.”
On the Tampa Bay Lightning …
- Tom Jones of the Tampa Bay Times: With Lightning GM issuing a statement that he won’t be trading Steven Stamkos, it means they are nowhere close to a contract extension. No reason to make a statement if they were. Jones on Yzerman’s statement.
It feels like Yzerman is putting out a fire started by Stamkos and Stamkos’ agent, Don Meehan. It sounds like Yzerman is trying to take heat off Stamkos. It sounds like Yzerman is the general manager of a team fighting for its playoff life and the last thing he wants is his captain and best player spending half his time bombarded with questions and texts asking him about dollars and cents instead of goals and assists.
This is Yzerman trying to save the Lightning season.
It feels like Stamkos will be playing somewhere else next year, and the chances seem to increase with each passing day.
- Mike Zeisberger of the Toronto Sun: It was the right move by Yzerman to end the trade rumors that would surround Steven Stamkos and the Lightning leading up to the trade deadline. Yzerman is taking the risk of losing him for nothing if they can’t reach an extension between now and July 1st.
An agent said during the All-Star weekend that Stamkos is likely looking for an contract bigger than Anze Kopitar’s eight-year, $80 million deal. That is something that wouldn’t be easy for the Lightning with Nikita Kucherov, Alex Killorn and Vladislav Namestnikov needing new deals this offseason, and Victor Hedman and Ben Bishop set to be UFAs after next season.