On the Los Angeles Kings and Anze Kopitar …
- David Pagnotta: Anze Kopitar’s agent, Pat Brisson on negotiations: “unlike what has been reported, we have nothing to report”
- David Pagnotta: Brisson wouldn’t comment any further on the Kopitar situation. A Kings source did say yesterday morning that the two sides haven’t spoken that much lately.
On the Philadelphia Flyers …
- Dave Isaac of the Courier Post: (mailbag) On creating the cap space to keep Shayne Gostisbehere ($950,000) on the roster once Mark Streit and his $5.25 million cap hit come off the LTIR. Waiving/demoting Brandon Manning ($650,000) won’t be enough. Best case would be if the Flyers could make a trade involving a defenseman. Streit might be the best candidate, but the one year left on his deal might keep some teams away.
- Luke Schenn, Matt Read and Brayden Schenn are other trade candidates.
- RJ Umberger seems like a more likely buyout than Vincent Lecavalier this summer.
On the Boston Bruins …
- Joe Haggerty of CSNNE: (mailbag) All things are quiet on the Bruins trade front at the moment. Prior to the holiday roster freeze, it’s not easy to make a deal. Teams are not looking to take on money, and many teams are still in the playoff race. Only really the Hurricanes, Blue Jackets and Oilers are out of it. The Flames could be included as well, but guessing the organization still thinks it’s possible.
- A good bet that Loui Eriksson won’t be re-signing before July 1st, and it doesn’t feel like he’d be a guy to sign a ‘hometown discout’ deal. The Bruins will have some decisions to make – overpay him on a big deal, which they won’t d0 – or possibly trade him around trade deadline. If the Bruins are in a playoff spot, trading him would only make sense if it got them a good, young defenseman – like a Jacob Trouba for example. If they can’t get a player like that, they will hold likely hold on to him. It’s doubtful Eriksson would get a six or seven year deal with a cap hit of $5-6 million from the Bruins.
On the Toronto Maple Leafs …
- Hope Smoke: Nick Kypreos said that the Maple Leafs are trying hard to find an elite goalie either through trade or by drafting one.
