On the Detroit Red Wings and Toronto Maple Leafs
TSN: Insider Trading
Bob McKenzie: There has been no progress between the Detroit Red Wings and Andreas Athanasiou. Some teams are calling the Red Wings to see if there is any interest in trading him. The Red Wings aren’t shopping Athanasiou, but if they were to move him, teams are being told they’d want a player with similar offensive upside and skill-level and is of similar age or younger. It’s doubtful any trade happens soon.
Pierre LeBrun: Have been told there haven’t been any serious contract extension talks between the Toronto Maple Leafs and pending UFA James van Riemsdyk. There has been some talk though. is hearing that JVR might be willing to do an eight-year deal that is more cap friendly to the Maple Leafs – like T.J. Oshie did for the Capitals. JVR wants to stay in Toronto.
On the Montreal Canadiens …
Chris Nichols of FanRag Sports: Darren Dreger was on TSN 1040 talking about Matt Duchene, with the Montreal Canadiens coming up in the discussion.
“When I deal with Montreal sources, I keep hearing that they’re not in on Matt Duchene,” indicated NHL Insider Darren Dreger during a Tuesday afternoon appearance on Vancouver’s TSN 1040, while also offering a qualification to that note. “But again, I always take that kind of intel coming out of Montreal with a bit of a grain of salt because what was it when P.K. Subban was traded – Marc Bergevin came out publically and said, ‘No, I’m not trading him.’ And days later, P.K. Subban gets dealt to the Nashville Predators.”
Dreger brings up Vegas Golden Knight’s pending UFA winger James Neal, and how his name is out there to some degree.
“Not that they’re shopping him, but why wouldn’t you want to trade James Neal to try and get something sweet back before the February 26 trade deadline. If he’s a roaring success in Vegas, then sign him back as an unrestricted free agent.
“So maybe that’s another name Montreal checks out.”