On the Carolina Hurricanes …
Platinum Seat Ghosts: Darren Dreger on Cam Ward: “I’m sure that he’ll be available between now and the trade deadline, provided that’s he’s healthy.”
Platinum Seat Ghosts: Dreger on Jeff Skinner: “If the right offer were to come around to Ron Francis, yeah, they’d consider moving him.”
On the Vancouver Canucks …
TSN Radio Vancouver: Bob McKenzie said that there could be trade interest Brandon Prust as a rental.
On the Florida Panthers …
George Richards: The Panthers scratched Brandon Pirri as trade rumors start to swirl.
Gary Lawless: Have been told that the Jets have been kicking tires on Panthers Brandon Pirri. He makes $900,000, scored 20 goals last year and has nine so far this year. Metropolitan and Central teams are interested in Pirri, with the Panthers wanting a gritty forward in return. Sounding like interested Central teams include the Wild, Predators and Jets. Arbitration rights are a sticking point. Sounding like the asking price for Pirri is a third line forward and a draft pick (“2nd roundish”), which might be too high for a team that is out of the playoffs.
Harvey Fialkov: Hearing that five teams are interested in Pirri – three teams in the Western Confernce and two in the Eastern Conference.
On the Toronto Maple Leafs …
Elliotte Friedman: Hearing that Russian free agent defenseman Nikita Zaitsev is telling teams that he intends on signing with the Maple Leafs. It would be a one-year entry level contract.
On the Columbus Blue Jackets …
- Chris Nichols of Today’s Slapshot: Bob McKenzie on TSN 1050 the Columbus Blue Jackets.
“Just the whole thing is falling apart over the course of this season, so I think they’re wide open. I’m sure they’ve got their internal pecking order as to who they prioritize in terms of who they want to keep and who they want to go. But I think they’re all ears on just about anything. They’re likely to be very active, if not by the deadline – but I would certainly think by the deadline – and well into the off-season.
“Because they thought they had a pretty good team. They really thought this year was going to be good and they thought that last year was an injury-induced failure. Then when they got somewhat healthy down the stretch, they had a tremendous run to finish the year. It turned out to be fool’s gold because they came back with a healthy lineup this year and they were terrible. Awful.”