The Vancouver Canucks will be looking for leadership
Trevor Beggs of the Daily Hive: Vancouver Canucks GM Ryan Johnson said that he relies heavily on leadership and loves to add guys with leadership qualities. Culture was brought up a lot last season, but Johnson won’t use the word ‘culture’ as “it’s very used and seldom executed.”
Johnson said that 80 percent of the AHL guys they had brought in wore an ‘A’ for ‘C’ before. So, it’s safe to say that he’ll be looking to do the same with their NHL roster going forward.
The Chicago Blackhawks will be looking for a veteran defenseman, not a center, and it may be an offseason of hockey trades
Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times: Chicago Blackhawks GM Kyle Davidson used some free time at the NHL draft combine to talk to other GMs, to see what is available and what is not.
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‘‘I’ve talked to every team, so have a pretty good understanding of what’s going on around the league and what’s out there — and also what’s not out there.
We’re certainly engaged in trying to be aggressive and seeing what we can do to help the group because we believe in the group as currently constructed. We think it would be a good thing to add, if at all possible.’’
They’ll be looking to add a veteran defenseman, with someone being left-handed, making the most sense. Most teams are looking to add, so it may be the offseason of ‘hockey trades.’
‘‘There’s a lot of teams looking to add,’’ Davidson said. ‘‘So if you’re looking to find a player, they probably want a player back. . . . It feels like there’s much more of a desire for ‘hockey trades’ rather than a player for futures or prospects.’’
Davidson said that there have been a lot of calls about teams looking to move up to the No. 4 pick.
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The Blackhawks will run with Connor Bedard, Frank Nazar and Anton Frondell down the middle next year, so they likely won’t be in the market for a veteran center.
Re-signing forward Ilya Mikheyev remains a possibility. Davidson said at this time they aren’t planning any buyouts. That could change depending on who they acquire this offseason.
