On the Vegas Golden Knights …
Steve Carp of the Las Vegas Review-Journal: The Golden Knights have a August 3rd arbitration hearing set for defenseman Nate Schmidt if they can’t get a deal done beforehand. Vegas GM George McPhee:
“We’ll do our best to reach a deal. But we’re comfortable with the arbitration process because it gets the deal done.”
The Golden Knights have 11 defensemen on their roster, but McPhee says they aren’t urgently trying a move a few of them.
“We’re at a manageable number right now,” he said. “We’re pretty close to where we want to be and we’re comfortable with the roster we have.”
Steve Carp of the Las Vegas Review-Journal: (last week) Nate Schmidt’s agent Matt Keator is optimistic that a deal can be worked out before their arbitration hearing.
“We’ve had positive discussions with Vegas,” Keator said Wednesday. (General manager) George (McPhee) and Andrew (Lugerner, director of hockey legal affairs) have been totally professional to deal with.”
On the Boston Bruins …
Joe Haggerty of CSNNE: Teams are looking for right handed defensemen, and the Bruins may have a couple extra. There have been rumors for a while involving Brandon Carlo and Colorado Avalanche forward Matt Duchene.
Could the Bruins move one or two right handed defensemen before the start of the season?
“They’re certainly dealing from a position of strength at a position that everybody covets,” said former NHL goaltender and current NHL Network analyst Kevin Weekes. “Their drafting overall has been good and their development model .”
The Bruins haven’t been able to acquire a top-four left handed defenseman this offseason. Kevan Miller will likely have to play on his off side and get top-four minutes if they pair him with Charles McAvoy as a veteran ‘tutor.’ Torey Krug or Miller will be paired McAvoy
Adam McQuaid and Paul Postma could be their bottom pairing, but ideally one would be their seventh defenseman and the other replaced by a left-handed top-four minute guy.
The Bruins shouldn’t be looking to move any of their defensive prospects and should let them develop. They are a year or two away from being the strength of the Bruins.