Jets shouldn’t give up on Laine
Scott Billeck: Thoughts on the Patrik Laine: “You don’t give up on a 22-year-old, 40-goal scorer coming off one of his most complete seasons as a player. Unless the Jets think he’s peaked at 22, there’s no way he should be trade bait. Crazy.”
“Yes, the Jets may need to move a big name to get one in return. Laine shouldn’t be that guy. Sure, his defence isn’t great, but his offensive accumen is too good to pass up on after 138 goals in 305 NHL games. He’s 22 and nearly a point-per-game player. Absolutely insane.”
NHL Watcher: Darren Dreger said that Patrik Laine is higher on the TSNs trade bait board than Nikolaj Ehlers as Ehlers is very “happy-go-lucky.” Winnipeg Jets coach Paul Maurice is able to play Ehlers in the top six or in the bottom six and he will play the same way. Laine is happy when he is on a line with Mark Scheifele and isn’t happy when he’s not.
Krug not sure about his future … Chara wants to keep playing
Amalie Benjamin of NHL.com: Boston Bruins defenseman Torey Krug will be looking for a raise from his $5.25 million cap hit, and he’s not interested in a one-year deal. It’s not certain that the Bruins will be able to fit him in with a flat salary cap.
Krug on the contact between his camp and the Bruins: “very few and far between.”
“I’m not really sure what the future holds,” Krug said. “I’m willing to sit back and see what happens here.”
Bruins 43-year old defenseman Zdeno Chara said yesterday that he wants to keep playing for the Bruins.
Blues won’t move just off their first round playoff exit
Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic: St. Louis Blues GM Doug Armstrong won’t make offseason decisions just based off their first round playoff exit.
“I would say that you have to take the (71 regular-season) games and look at what went well and what didn’t go well,” Armstrong said. “Then you have to take the tournament in itself and figure out what went well, where you have to improve and why we are not playing right now.”
Armstrong didn’t believe their conditioning was up to par as 20 percent of their roster dealt with COVID before entering the bubble.
