On the St. Louis Blues …
Chris Nichols: Darren Dreger: “I don’t believe St. Louis is a contender for Fleury. I think that they’re all in on Jake Allen.”
Jeremy Rutherford of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: (chat) Was told by someone other than GM Jim Rutherford that there wasn’t any trade interest in Ty Rattie before they put him on waivers. Teams know they could potentially get him for nothing.
Can see the Blues making a couple trades, but don’t see them making a big slash and bringing in a big name. They may trade Kevin Shattenkirk, Patrik Berglund, etc, but it may only be for draft picks, prospects, and to clear out salary.
They should be able to get a pretty good prospect for Shattenkirk. If they could do a sign and trade, may only get a good established players, but not a great one. If they added an asset with Shattenkirk, they could get a better player.
On the Ottawa Senators …
Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun: Senators fans shouldn’t get too excited about the possibility of them adding Matt Duchene before the March 1st trade deadline. The asking for Duchene “is closer to fantasy than reality.”
Things could obviously change, but Avs GM Joe Sakic is asking for a boatload in return according to a few league executives.
The Senators have kicked tires on Duchene, Gabriel Landeskog and Martin Hanzal. Senators GM Pierre Dorion isn’t desperate to make a trade.
Multiple teams have talked to the Avs about Duchene. Sakic will want a top-four defenseman, a top prospect, a first round pick and potentially more.
From the Senators, that would likely mean they would have to include Cody Ceci and Colin White or Thomas Chabot. The Senators are not interested in trading Ceci.