On the Pittsburgh Penguins …
Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Penguins GM Jim Rutherford has been happy with recently acquired Riley Sheahan, but the Penguins need to get some more offense out of their bottom-six or else they may have to make another move.
“In order to be real successful, and get to where we want to get to at the end, we have to have three lines that are going to contribute offensively,” Rutherford said “It’s not just . There are a couple of other guys who are sitting there with not very many goals — one or two or none — that we have to get a little more production out of.”
Patric Hornqvist is a pending unrestricted free agent, and Rutherford hasn’t ruled out re-signing him, but don’t expect it to happen during the season.
“That would be something that’s a little uncharacteristic for me,” Rutherford said. “For the most part, I wait until the end of the season.”
On the Montreal Canadiens …
Chris Nichols of FanRag Sports: Darren Dreger was on TSN 1050 talking about the Montreal Canadiens.
“Alex Galchenyuk is a player of interest to teams around the National Hockey League. Marc Bergevin is very reluctant to trade him yet, so he must see enough in the upside of this kid that he doesn’t want to quite give up on a developing product.
“The Max Pacioretty rumors – if this team doesn’t turn it around very, very soon, the whispers are going to get a lot louder. A lot louder. So now you’re Bergevin and you have made some real bold trades, haven’t you. You acquired Jonathan Drouin, moving out a piece in Sergachev who is lights-out good in Tampa Bay. You made the significant deal with P.K. Subban going to the Nashville Predators. You get a good piece in Shea Weber coming back. But who’s kidding who? Shea Weber isn’t getting any younger. So the next logical piece is to do something unsettling to shake this group up, and that’s perhaps considering trading your captain.”
Dreger adds that IF the Canadiens ever make Pacioretty available, there will be plenty of teams interested.
Dreger believes GM Marc Bergevin’s job is safe, and if they don’t turn things around and that if he’s offered a big enough deal for Pacioretty, he has to make it.