On the New York Rangers…
Rory Boylen of Sportsnet: Elliotte Friedman on last night’s “Headlines” said it’s going to be a crazy season for trade rumors and one of them will be the Rangers looking at trading Rick Nash. Nash has a list of 12 teams that he’d accept a trade to.
“However, there’s a couple things here. No. 1, he’s got a $7.8 million cap hit for two more seasons — how would that work? And No. 2 , while he struggled this year the Rangers really defended him. They felt that Nash played hurt and that affected his totals and I think they do look at it and say if he’s healthy next year he could be much more effective. But he’s going to be a name and the Rangers are going to be a team to watch.”
The Rangers have five players carrying at least a $5 million salary cap hit and they need to sign RFAs Chris Kreider, Kevin Hayes and J.T. Miller.
John Shannon: Wonder if the Rangers would be in on Steven Stamkos if they can move Nash.
On Vadim Shipachov …
Aivis Kalnins: The Canadiens were interested in Vadim Shipachov before the World Championships. There will be a few teams that are interested in signing him. He’ll probably look at term and what the state of the team is. He wants to play in the NHL and is not using NHL as leverage on KHL deal as he was paid pretty good on his expiring deal.
On the Washington Capitals …
Chuck Gormley of CSN Mid Atlantic: (mailbag) The Capitals won’t be trading Alex Ovechkin this offseason. Ovechkin can give the Capitals a list of 10 that he won’t accept a trade to. Now, if they fail miserably in their quest for the Cup next year, it could change their opinion. Unless there is a drastic change though, the Capitals should be able to remain competitive enough to keep Ovechkin around for the remaining five years on his contract.
Why wouldn’t the Capitals be interest Shipachov, at least to see what the cost might be. (Gormley is just putting the idea out there, and not they are interested) There are some reports that he might have another year left on his deal.
