James Reimer and Nick Bonino are unsure of the future but are open to coming back
Sheng Peng of San Jose Hockey Now: Peng writes that both James Reimer and Nick Bonino’s time in San Jose could be coming to an end with the NHL Trade Deadline on Friday, March 3rd. Both players have no idea if and when those trades could happen, but both really enjoy their time in San Jose.
NHL Rumors: Sharks Logan Couture, and the Nashville Predators Sell-off
As Peng writes the Sharks are rebuilding and trying to get younger. Both Bonino and Reimer are pending unrestricted free agents and would be great additions to contending teams. Bonino is a hard-nosed forward that can forecheck hard and cause turnovers. Reimer has shown over his career he is a steady backup.
Now general manager Mike Grier could trade both, one or neither. However, both made it clear to Peng that they would come back if San Jose wanted them.
Do the Avs need to look a little bigger down the middle?
Mark Kizsla of the Denver Post: (The Avs traded for Lars Eller yesterday but…) The hard-fighting Colorado Avalanche are back in the picture for the top seed in the Central and can’t just sit back and be satisfied with the moves they made already ahead of the deadline. They must add a center.
With a lot of the big-name centers already on the move and Gabriel Landeskog not back from injury yet, it makes for them to look at players like Nick Schmaltz of Arizona and Kevin Hayes of Philadelphia.
NHL Rumors: Colorado Avalanche Have Options At Trade Deadline
As Kizsla writes nothing against the players the Avalanche added, but they need more than muckers to repeat as champions considering what other teams are doing around them.
Both Schmaltz and Hayes’s salaries are not cheap. But both can be effective players. Schmaltz is a playmaker while Hayes is a bigger body that can score and be physical. Colorado needs to do something to keep pace in the West.