Brock Boeser, Vancouver Canucks contract talks could begin soon
The Fourth Period: (youtube) David Pagnotta on the “Latest” on the Vancouver Canucks and pending UFA Brock Boeser.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
“And just circling back on Vancouver, I forgot to mention that Allvin mentioned Brock Boeser and their contract discussions. This is by design. Both sides didn’t really want to get overly serious in contract discussions until later on in the season.
I think that will begin to pick up. But you called out your guys, so now it’s a matter of them, stepping up. That’s kind of the mentality from Vancouver.”
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The Montreal Canadiens could be buyers and sellers
The Fourth Period: (youtube) David Pagnotta on the “Latest” on the Montreal Canadiens being buyers and sellers at the trade deadline.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Kate Pettersen: “Now, another team that we’ve talked about quite a bit this season is Montreal. Now they’ve won five of their last six, and they’ve got a healthier roster. Yet, it seems that they’re continuing to be focused on that rebuild. So do you think over the next few months we see them adding, or are they going to be subtracting?”
Pagnotta: “If they could do both, that would be the primary objective for Kent Hughes and the Montreal Canadiens. They have pieces that are available on the trade market, like David Savard, like Christian Dvorak, like Joel Armia, and even Jake Evans, all on expiring contracts that are going to continue to generate interest going towards the trade deadline.
Evans is an interesting one, because they would love to keep him, but his value continues to skyrocket financially, so they may have to juggle the decision of keeping him on a long-term deal at decent money or moving him out and getting a solid asset in return.
Mike Matheson‘s name is also out there.
NHL Rumors: What Will it Take for the Montreal Canadiens Not to Sell?
That being said, I talk about the addition portion. They’ve made moves over the last couple of summers, bringing in Alex Newhook, bringing in Kirby Dach. If they could follow that model and make a hockey-type trade where they’re bringing in some younger NHL-caliber pieces, that’s something that I think the Canadians would love to explore.
So they’re going to look at both. They’re going to look at moving out some pieces and collecting assets and potentially utilizing some of those assets to fill holes in other areas of their club for a long-term edition.”