Penguins have to be patient as the market is small
Matt Vensel of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: It’s well known that Pittsburgh Penguins GM Jim Rutherford likes to make moves well in advance of the NHL trade deadline.
“I think the market will open up at some point in the next week or two,” the GM said Wednesday afternoon. “Once teams decide which direction they want to go, more players will get into the market. But now it’s a pretty small market.”
The Penguins would like to add a top-six winger. Jake Guentzel isn’t expected back until late April. Rutherford would ideally like to make a move sooner than later but he’s not feeling any urgency with the way they’ve been playing.
The Penguins seem comfortable with the blue line and goaltending, so any move would likely be for a forward.
“Our chemistry is so strong that it doesn’t affect anything,” he said. “We’re not looking at changing a whole lot of players. … But even if we did bring four or five new players, I don’t think it could affect the chemistry of this team.”
The Jets would be interested in adding a Dman … The Canadiens may not be selling
RDS: (google translate) The Winnipeg Jets would be interested in Montreal Canadiens’ defenseman Jeff Petry if he were made available. The Jets and Dustin Byfuglien are working on a mutual termination, which would give the Jets additional salary cap space.
Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin doesn’t want to trade Petry. The Jets wouldn’t be the only team interested in Petry if he were made available.
The 32-year old Petry has one-year left at $5.5 million.
Canadiens forward Tomas Tatar is a pending agent. Pierre LeBrun said the Pittsburgh Penguins, Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers would potentially have interest in Tatar.
LeBrun adds that he doesn’t think that either Petry or Tatar will be moved at the deadline.
Othe trade options for the Jets could include Alec Martinez (Kings – one-year – $4 million), Shayne Gostisbehere (Flyers – three years – $4.5 million), and Matt Dumba (Wild – three years – $6 million).
LeBrun said that some teams would offer the Canadiens a third-round pick for the Ilya Kovalchuk, but they are looking for a second-round pick. The Canadiens may now be considering signing him to a contract extension.