- Sarah McLellan of the Arizona Republic: Changes could be coming to the Coyotes roster.
“A lot of teams look at the trade deadline as sort of the key time to shuffle your roster,” General Manager Don Maloney said. “You’re either adding or subtracting. I think what’s happened now with this 11-game period (is) it changed our timeline in the sense we’re not waiting around for March 2 to make the kind of changes we need.”
GM Maloney isn’t expecting to have a fire sale, nor is he looking for rental players. They could look at adding someone.
“That could be bringing in somebody that’s better support for the younger players but for the most part, it’s not like we’re going to jet-set every veteran player we have out of here,” he said.
They will continue to audition players from their AHL team. Team source saying that the 51 percent sale to Andrew Barroway should be completed by the end of the year. They should have some idea on future budgets soon.
- Nichols on Hockey: Darren Dreger on TSN 1200 on the Senators and Oilers.
“I did hear that Murray and Craig MacTavish connected, maybe a couple of weeks ago, but it didn’t seem like Edmonton was too aggressive or interested in talking any type of trade. Which is confusing to me, given where Edmonton is. Maybe the players they were kind of nibbling on, and I think that’s the appropriate word, weren’t of value to Craig MacTavish? I don’t know. But aside from that, from Ottawa’s perspective, I think it’s been pretty quiet.”
“I guess it makes some sense, given where they’re at in the standings. Why would you try and fix something that you know is broken now, unless there’s a deal in Ottawa or anywhere else that you’re convinced is going to make you better in the long-term, not in the short-term. So MacTavish is in a tough spot right now, although easy longer term because you know you just have to maintain your position and make sure that you’re the guy who’s got the crack at Jack Eichel or Connor McDavid.”
- Rich Chere of NJ.com: Chere thinks that Devils GM Lou Lamoriello should have been shown the door along with Peter DeBoer (fired yesterday). DeBoer may not done a great job, but it’s not all on him.
The blame should be directed at Lamoriello, who has made a series of bad decisions signing free agents, at the draft table and handling the organization’s few top prospects. He has also held back a progressive new ownership group that looks to create more revenue and bring the Devils into the 21st century when it comes to promoting and marketing the team.
- Rich Chere of NJ.com: Speculation among Devils players is that recently fired Paul MacLean could be named as their new head coach.