On the Vegas Golden Knights …
Bob McKenzie: (before Calvin Pickard was placed on waivers) Nothing may be imminent, but the Golden Knights may be in trade mode. They could move a goaltender (Pickard) and a defenseman.
Bob McKenzie: Would expect the Golden Knights to keep defensemen Deryk Engelland, Jason Garrison, Luca Sbisa, Shea Theodore, Nate Schmidt and Colin Miller. All other defensemen could be available.
TSN: Golden Knights GM George McPhee on Wednesday.
“We assigned Shipachyov, Tuch and Theodore to Chicago because we could,” McPhee told the Las Vegas Review-Journal on Wednesday. “We’re still two days away from our first game, so we have a little more time to assess things and make adjustments to our roster.
“We’ll see how things go. We could make one trade. We could make three.”
On the Tampa Bay Lightning …
Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times: The Lightning will be carrying eight defensemen to start the season. With the Lightning keeping Mikhail Sergachev up, he’ll be playing. Slater Koekkoek and Andrej Sustr appear to be healthy scratches, with both requiring waivers to be sent to the AHL.
There is always the possibility of the Lightning making a trade.
The Lightning could also return Sergachev to junior. They have until his 10th game to decide or burn a year of his entry-level deal.
“Players have pride; they want to play,” Cooper said. “First and foremost, they want to make the team, and a lot of guys have right now. The key is to stay here and do everything you can to help our team win.
“It’s part of the organization. As a coaching staff, we have to identify roles for these players, and they have to dig their heels in and accept them and work their tails off. That’s what’s going to happen.”