- Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun: Teams that could use Maple Leafs center Tyler Bozak include the Coyotes, Devils, Wild, Red Wings and Bruins.Brendan Shanahan isn’t about to name himself or anyone else their new GM right now. Talk of Kings Mike Futa have cooled down. Jeff Gorton is the Rangers GM now. Shanahan handled the Phil Kessel trade negotiations.
- Lyle Richardson of Spector’s Hockey: On why the Coyotes, Devils, Wild, Red Wings, and Bruins may not be good fits for Bozak.
Coyotes – have brought in centers Antoine Vermette, Brad Richardson and Boyd Gordan since the start of free agency.Wild – have about $3.6 million in cap space and have top three centers in Mikko Koivu, Mikael Granlund and Charlie Coyle.Devils – have Adam Henrique and Travis Zajac down the middle.Red Wings – they signed Brad Richards, have Dylan Larkin challenging for a roster spot, as well as Luke Glendening and Riley Sheahan.
Bruins – they have Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci as their top two centers.
- Jeremy Rutherford of the St. Louis Post Dispatch: Petteri Lindbohm will take over for Barret Jackman on the Blues blueline. Troy Brouwer will take over for TJ Oshie, and free agent Kyle Brodziak replaces Marcel Goc.
“I see there being change,” Armstrong said. “We’re changing out a third of our defense from opening night (2014) and we’re changing out some forwards. I don’t know if people expected 12 new forwards and six new defensemen … then they’re going to be disappointed. But there certainly has been some change and there’s certainly going to be some change that will come with responsibilities also.”
GM Doug Armstrong thinks that bringing in Brouwer and with some new responsibilities for a few other Blues players, the results could be different next season. They could look at moving David Backes back to the right side and move Paul Stastny back into their top-six.
“So if you see a right wing of Backes, (Vladimir) Tarasenko and Brouwer, those are big, heavy bodies,” Armstrong said. “They’ll all bring a different element to the game. If Ken wants to use David back in the middle, playing him with Brouwer and whoever on the left side, it makes that a big, heavy line.”
Dmitrij Jaskin, Ty Rattie and Robby Fabbi could emerge with a bigger role.
Armstrong on if anything else could be in the works after their trade with the Capitals.
“This certainly solidifies our group of nine forwards,” he said. “We still have some areas that we need to fill in, but this (trade) wasn’t done to set up for something else.”
But for fans still hoping for more change, Armstrong reminded, “I never say never.”
