Teams to watch as the holiday roster freeze draws closer
Bleacher Report – Inside Notebook: Frank Seravalli on some teams to watch heading into, and out of, the Christmas break.
** NHL Rumors.com transcription
“Who else is on our trade board? Well, you can throw in any of the pending unrestricted free agents from the Vancouver Canucks, which we’ve talked about after they sent a memo last week.
You could talk about some of the vets on the Nashville Predators, including Steven Stamkos and Jonathan Marchessault.
You could talk about the St. Louis Blues and their disaster of a season, including captain and center Brayden Schenn. Probably a couple of their veteran defensemen that they’ve been trying to move that have no-trade clauses for the last couple years.
And oh, by the way, a brutal season so far for Jordan Binnington, who was pulled from Monday’s game against the Anaheim Ducks after allowing two goals on five shots and had some choice words for coach Jim Montgomery on his way off the ice. Those two have since made up, and as, according to Montgomery, it’s now in the rear-view mirror. But nonetheless still an intriguing situation to watch. Can Jordan Binnington still really be the guy for Team Canada with an .878, save percentage so far this season?
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Elsewhere on our trade targets board? Look, I think it’s going to be really interesting to see which way the New York Islanders go this season. I think they want to try and build up and support this team, but they’re going to have some tough calls to make. And the other standard sort of pending unrestricted free agents that we get to at this time of year that will most definitely be generating some interest.
We still think the Toronto Maple Leafs have some decisions to make on their blue line, in particular, Brandon Carlo going to be out for a bit. That complicates that trade scenario, of course.”
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