Could the Blues move Mike Hoffman?
TSN: Mike Hoffman hasn’t worked out well as well as hoped in St. Louis and the pending UFA could be on the move according to Pierre LeBrun despite the Blues not being out of the playoff race.
“The St. Louis Blues are not out of contention but we know from GM Doug Armstrong’s history, that he’s not worried about trading pending UFAs when his team underachieves. He traded Kevin Shattenkirk at the deadline in 2017 despite being in a playoff spot. He traded Paul Stastny to Winnipeg in 2018 despite being a point out, and word is, from talking to different teams around the league, that he’s open to potentially moving some pending UFAs. The Blues have disappointed. Hoffman would be one, perhaps Tyler Bozak is another.”
Quiet in Calgary
TSN: The Calgary Flames are another teams that has had a disappointing season but things are quiet at the moment according to Frank Seravalli. There are a couple of teams that may be wondering what they would do with Sean Monahan and Johnny Gaudreau.
“And I think Flames GM Brad Treliving is open to doing just about anything at this point, but deals like that typically wait until the off-season.
In the meantime the Flames are taking calls and have received interest on pending UFA goalie David Rittich. It’s been a little bit more quiet for a guy like centre Derek Ryan and some of the Flames’ other lower-priced pending UFAs.”
Canadiens GM on the trade deadline
Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic: Montreal Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin when asked if they are still looking for pieces or if they are happy with their depth.
“I’ll give you our company line — we’re always trying to make our team better.”
Bergevin when asked about having to make a move because of their cap situation or if they can live with it.
“Listen, cap space is an asset. So any general manager, unless you have $15 million in cap space, every GM tight to the cap will say, “Yeah, we’d love to have more cap space.” But at what cost?”