Scouting the St. Louis Blues and Vegas Golden Knights …
Lou Korac: Scouts listed to attend last night’s Blues – Golden Knights game: Ottawa Senators, Philadelphia Flyers, Minnesota Wild, Boston Bruins and New Jersey Devils. That was more than there usually is for a Blues game.
On the Los Angeles Kings …
Dennis Bernstein: Darren Dreger said the other night that the Ottawa Senators still have hopes of getting back into the playoff race, but if they do decide to start selling, Mike Hoffman will likely be the first to be moved.
doesn’t see Hoffman as a fit for the LA Kings with the term remaining on Hoffman’s deal.
On the Nashville Predators …
Thomas Willis: Predators GM David Poile said that if they were going to make another trade for the NHL trade deadline that he’d “tinker with his forwards.”
Poile likes having eight defensemen, and they are happy with how both of their goalies have been playing.
On the high number of unhappy teams …
Chris Nichols of Fan Rag Sports: Bob McKenzie was on TSN 1050 yesterday and said that trade talks are going on. McKenzie notes that teams may be more open to dealing significant players than they have in the past.
“But as a league, I don’t ever remember a season where there are as many organizations that as miserable as they are right now. And that the season has gone to relative degrees horribly wrong in Edmonton, in Ottawa, in Montreal, in Buffalo. Pittsburgh feels like their season hasn’t gone the way it needs to. Columbus is not happy with the way their season has gone. The Islanders have been slip-sliding away lately and they’re not very happy. Florida is not very happy with where they are.”
McKenzie adds that there aren’t many teams that are happy sit and a lot of them could make moves before the trade deadline.