- Pierre LeBrun of ESPN: LeBrun names five players who could be dealt before the trade deadline: Mike Green (WSH), Antti Niemi (SJ), James Reimer (TOR), Cam Ward (CAR) and Tyler Myers (BUF).
- Luke Fox of Sportsnet: Fox looks ahead to the top 30 potential 2015 unrestricted free agents. 1. Jason Spezza (DAL) 2. Marc Staal (NYR) 3. Martin St. Louis (NYR) 4. Marc-Andre Fleury (PIT) 5. Mike Green (WSH) 6. Mats Zuccarello (NYR) 7. Johnny Boychuk (NYI) 8. Paul Martin (PIT) 9. Justin Williams (LA) 10. Christian Ehrhoff (PIT) 11. Chris Stewart (BUF) 12. Marc Methot (OTT) 13. Antti Niemi (SJ) 14. Andrej Meszaros (BUF) 15. Curtis Glencross (CAL) 16. Johnny Oduya (CHI) 17. Joel Ward (WSH) 18. Francois Beauchemin (ANA) 19. Jaromir Jagr (NJ) 20. Jarret Stoll (LA) 21. Drew Stafford (BUF) 22. Kari Ramo (CAL) 23. Mike Ribeiro (NSH) 24. Brad Richards (CHI) 25. Antoine Vermette (ARI) 26. Josh Harding (MIN) 27. Viktor Fasth (EDM) 28. Scottie Upshall 29. Michael Ryder (NJ) 30. Zbynek Michalek (ARI)
- Dmitry Chesnokov: Jets prospect Alexander Burmistrov’s contract with AK Bars of the KHL is done at the end of the season, and he’s looking to return to the NHL.
“We have not discussed a new contract with AK Bars,” Burmistrov told Championat.com. “I want to try myself across the ocean again, to fulfill my dream and play in the NHL. We will see how everything turns out; won’t try guessing. Nothing has been defined yet, but I really want to leave, because the NHL is my dream.”
- Tom Gulitti: Devils GM Lou Lamoriello has recommended to Scott Gomez that he stays around as an unsigned “taxi squad” player as there is currently no room for him on the roster.
- Ken Warren of the Ottawa Citizen: Martin Brodeur wants to make sure he explores all routes before officially retiring.
“It doesn’t come out of the blue, it’s something I have prepared for,” he said. “There are guys who retired 10 years ago and are my age and I’ve talked to them. And it’s all the same what they tell me. It’s one of the reasons I want to continue because these guys have had a hard time with it. They say, ‘unless you cannot play the game physically, trust me, Marty, you want to play hockey, that life is a little different on the other side, so be prepared’.”
- Chris Nichols of Nichols on Hockey: Darren Dreger said he thinks Martin Brodeur will sign somewhere, and if Brian Elliott or Jake Allen don’t work out in St. Louis, the Blues could be option.
“But I look at history. I look at St. Louis, to me, and this is just raw speculation – if Elliott or Allen don’t pan out or one of those two were to get hurt – Do I think that Ken Hitchcock would push Doug Armstrong to make that call? Absolutely. Just because of the history, from a Hockey Canada connection to Martin Brodeur. Hitchcock when it comes to that level of history is a keen supporter. So that might be a scenario that you see unfolding, or something like it.”
