On the Blackhawks …
- Chris Kuc and Chris Hine of the Chicago Tribune: Both Duncan Keith and Michal Rozsival are getting closer to returning to the Blackhawks lineup, but sources are saying they are pushing hard to trade for a defenseman. Even before Keith was injured, they were exploring the blueline trade market.
“I don’t mind our back end,” Quenneville said. “We’ve got some young guys coming along here. I think they’re going to be all right. Erik Gustafsson coming in — something we probably didn’t envision at the start. But he’s played some games here where all of a sudden it looks like he could be OK.
“And you look at (van Riemsdyk) and the big guy (Svedberg), and there’s progress there and those guys can get better as the season gets along.”
Once both Keith and Rozvial are ready, it would give them nine defenseman – Keith, Rozsival, Brent Seabrook, Niklas Hjalmarsson, Trevor Daley, Viktor Svedberg, Trevor van Riemsdyk and Erik Gustafsson.
On the Wild …
- Chad Graff of the Pioneer Press: Half of the league, including the Wild, are within a $1 million of the cap ceiling or are using LTIR cap relief. Part of the reason why team are having a bit of a cap issue is that the Canadian dollar has dropped. Last December Gary Bettman told all teams that the projected cap number was $73, $1.6 million lower than it currently is. It doesn’t help the Wild that they are carrying Niklas Backstrom’s $3.4 million cap hit as their third string goalie – who hasn’t appeared in any games – and isn’t expected to appear in any games in the near future.
“We’re tight,” Fletcher admitted. “It makes it more difficult (to make trades). I think right now everybody else wants to see how their team is. You like to give your team 20, 25 games to sort itself out, and most of us are in that process now.”
On the Avalanche …
- Eklund of Hockey Buzz: The Avalanche have some nice pieces that could be available before the trade deadline if they remain out the playoff picture. One player could be Jarome Iginla, who has a year left on his deal at a $5.33 million cap hit. The Avs have to re-sign Nathan McKinnon, which won’t be easy.
- Hearing the Canadiens, Panthers, Kings and Islanders are monitoring the Avs situation.