On the Ottawa Senators and Boston Bruins …
TSN Insider Trading: Pierre LeBrun: Eight teams talked to Senators GM Pierre Dorion on Thursday, who continues to try and make a deal. He won’t make a deal just to make a deal before the holiday roster freeze.
Darren Dreger: Need to keep an eye on the Boston Bruins after the holiday roster freeze. The Bruins would like to sign defenseman Zdeno Chara to a contract extension, and he wants to continue playing.
On the New York Islanders …
Arthur Staple: “1) The #Isles aren’t trading Nick Leddy. Teams want more Nick Leddys, not fewer. 2) Been told the NHL has not given the #Isles the green light to play a season at Nassau Coliseum if Belmont goes through. Nothing’s been decided there.”
On the Edmonton Oilers and Montreal Canadiens …
TSN: Allan Mitchell of The Athletic thinks that Senators winger Mike Hoffman would be a perfect fit with Connor McDavid. Hoffman carries a $5.19 million salary cap hit through 2019-20.
Bob McKenzie said the Montreal Canadiens likely wouldn’t be making any in-season front office changes.
“My perspective is that absent the team just losing the rest of the games for the season type of thing and just getting to an untenable situation – absent that, I wouldn’t anticipate that there would be any sort of in-season changes, and that everything would be evaluated at the end of the season,” McKenzie told Montreal’s TSN Radio 690. “So I really think that’s where it’s at. I know it’s fashionable – and listen – fans, media, whatever, they’re all entitled to analyze and espouse whatever it is that they’re thinking. But I’d be really surprised.
“But again, I’ve got to qualify that by I don’t know what’s going to happen here for the rest of the season. So how many games do they have left? 50-someodd games left? If they lose 49 of them, then somewhere along the line something could give.”