- Fluto Shinzawa of the Boston Globe: Bruins Milan Lucic has one year left on his deal, with a $6 million cap hit. He’s been inconsistent this season. The Bruins will have to decide this they’ll want to extend him or move on. If he hits the open market, there will be plenty of teams interested, with some teams likely willing to go seven-years – maybe the Canucks or Flames. The Bruins likely wouldn’t want to go seven-years. The Bruins could just let Lucic walk after next season, and use the $6 million in savings on a replacement, but it won’t be easy to find a similar replacement, regardless of price. Lucic has a restricted no-trade clause, and if they look move him, teams likely won’t want to give up equal value knowing that he could walk after next season. The Bruins would rather not lose Lucic, but to sign him to a three-year contract at $6 million or slightly above.
The Lightning can only retain one more salary in a trade. The maximum amount of salaries teams are allowed to retain is 15 percent of the salary cap, so $10.35 million for this season. They are currently at $7,742,500.
- Michael Russo of the Star Tribune: (mailbag) The Wild need to trade for a defenseman as they don’t appear to trust their third pairing. Trading for Taylor Hall would cost the Wild a fortune. The Wild could use some power play help, right-handed Mike Green may be a better option than left-handed Keith Yandle. The Wild could use some help between the pipes, so they might inquired about Cam Ward.
- Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun: There are no plans as of the now for the Maple Leafs to trade Jake Gardiner.
- Jameson Olive: Scouting the Maple Leafs-Panthers games yesterday: Red Wings, Jets and Penguins.
- Dennis Bernstein: A Penguins scout was at the Ducks-Canucks game last night. The Penguins don’t play either team until February 7th.
- Dennis Bernstein: Bernstein thinks the Kings could look to acquire Hurricanes defenseman Andrej Sekera.
