Capitals looking to play in Russia
J.J. Regan: The Washington Capitals are interested in playing a regular season game in Russia and Bill Daly said the league is working to see if they can make that happen.
Stecher’s agent
Rick Dhaliwal: The agent, Eustace Kings, for pending RFA Vancouver Canucks defenseman Troy Stecher: “I am happy Troy stayed, he loves playing in Vancouver, he had numerous teams after him when he was a free agent and he picked his hometown.”
Blackhawks don’t have a No. 1 goalie signed for next season
John Dietz of the Chicago Daily Herald: The Chicago Blackhawks moved pending UFA goaltender Robin Lehner at the deadline. Blackhawks GM Stan Bowman has to decide if they want to bring pending UFA goaltender Corey Crawford back next season.
Crawford has had concussions and missed significant time in 2017-18 and 2018-19. Bowman admits Crawford’s health is a factor.
“It’s a factor. Is it a big factor? Not sure about that.”
If they don’t re-sign Crawford they’d likely have to look at free-agency for their No. 1 for next season. The top-five pending UFAs include Braden Holtby, Thomas Greiss, Jacob Markstrom, Anton Khudobin and Jaroslav Halak.
Offseason coaching change for the Red Wings?
Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press: Detroit Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman said that despite a difficult season, head coach Jeff Blashill and his staff have done a “very good job” with the team.
Yzerman wouldn’t say if Blashill will be next season though. It’s believed that Yzerman could be considering Gerard Gallant and Lane Lambert as potential Blashill replacements if they make a coaching change.
“I”m not going to make any decisions on anything until the season is over,” Yzerman said. “We are going to sit down and go over it, but again, I think Jeff has done a really good job. I’ve enjoyed working with him and as of right now, I don’t plan to make a change. You read into that what you want.”