- Pierre LeBrun of ESPN: Blues Martin Brodeur will take another week leave from the Blues.
“With the All-Star break already on the way, the Blues have given Marty more time to reflect,” agent Pat Brisson of CAA Sports told ESPN.com Tuesday evening. “Everything should be clearer post All-Star next week.”
The Blues were fine with keeping Brodeur around for a bit as their third goaltender as insurance, but it’s not ideal for Brodeur.
- Pierre LeBrun of ESPN: Red Wings GM Ken Holland will keep working the phones as the deadline approaches.
“If we can find a player that can upgrade us at a price we can live with, we’ll do it,” Holland told ESPN.com Tuesday.
“Last year I paid what I thought was a pretty heavy price,” Holland said. “Jarnkrok is playing regular in Nashville this year, plus the second-round pick. But we didn’t have any centers at the time. That morning I got news Datsyuk was down for basically the rest of the regular season. Helm had got a concussion two nights earlier and Zetterberg was down with back surgery. So I paid a hefty price. But I think the line of Legwand with Franzen and Nyquist certainly for the first 10 games after the trade carried us and gave us hope. And we eventually made the playoffs.”
Though they would probably like to add a top-four defenseman, if the price is too high, they could settle for a No. 5 – 6 guy instead. Sense is they won’t move a first rounder, and would only include a second round pick in a package for a top-four.
- Pierre LeBrun of ESPN: Andrej Sekera’s agent, Allen Walsh, will hold contract talks with the Hurricanes in the next few weeks. If they can’t re-sign him, he’ll be in high demand come the trade deadline.
“With our free agents, we’d like to be able to keep them and sign them, at the end of the day it has to be the right term and the right number,” Hurricanes general manager Ron Francis told ESPN.com Monday. “If it is, then great. If it isn’t, then we’ll probably have to move them prior to March 2.”
- Pierre LeBrun of ESPN: The Coyotes won’t be going through a complete overhaul, but there will be some players leaving. They have some nice young pieces already in place and are hoping for a quick turnaround in a year or two. There is no doubt they would like to get a top-two pick this year. Big question will be what they do with Keith Yandle. One NHL source said they are more likely to wait until the offseason to auction off Yandle.
- Pierre LeBrun of ESPN: The Rangers are looking for a bottom-six forward, one who can play center and wing. They could also look to add some depth on the blueline.Islanders GM Garth Snow may not want to mess with team chemistry right now. If they suffer some injuries before trade deadline could dictate what they do.
- Pierre LeBrun of ESPN: The Penguins have already traded for David Perron, but they may not be done.
“We’ll have a better idea once we get Hornqvist and Comeau back so that we balance out our lines and get a better picture of what we got,” Penguins GM Jim Rutherford told ESPN.com Tuesday. “But you’re always willing to listen and willing to make your team better.”
The Penguins are tight against the cap, so any deal may have to be salary in, salary out. LeBrun thinks the Penguins would like to add a fourth-liner.
- Pierre LeBrun of ESPN: On if the Leafs would have a hard time trading Phil Kessel due to his contract.
“Are you kidding me?” said one rival Western Conference team executive a few days ago. “If they ever auctioned him off there would be a lot of interest regardless of that contract. The guy can score. It’s hard to find those guys.”
It’s believed that teams have already let the Leafs know that if they are considering trading him, they’d be interested. It may be more of an offseason move as opposed to a deadline trade so that more teams can get involved.