- Pierre LeBrun of ESPN: Bryan Bickell could still remain with the Blackhawks if he clears waivers. The Blackhawks have spoken with teams about Bickell dating back to before the draft, but not to all teams. Putting him on waivers could spark some interest from a team they haven’t spoken with yet. There might be enough interest from a team to send back a contract instead of taking on the full cap hit of a waiver claim.Andrew Ladd told the Winnipeg Free Press that he might table contract extension talks once the season starts. Being the captain of a team in Canada, Ladd may feel it would be a distraction. There has been progress. Both sides have agreed that six years could work, but they are apart on dollar amount.
LeBrun doesn’t sense that the Kings and Anze Kopitar are close on an extension, but talks remain positive. Kopitar wants to get a deal done before the start of the season and sides will resume talks next week.
- Mark Lazerus: Very unlikely that anyone will claim Bickell off waivers as the Blackhawks have been trying to trade him for months.
- Jonathan Willis: Doubt the Blackhawks would do a Andrew Ference for Bickell trade. Ference’s no-movement clause is keeping him in the NHL and is “lethal” to the Oilers.
- Mark Spector: Andrew Ference is unmoveable and Nikita Nikitin is only mildly less so.
- Pat Leonard of the NY Daily News: Rangers Emerson Etem and Tanner Glass are battling each other for the final forward roster spot. A way to keep both, though unlikely, is if the Rangers were able to trade Dominic Moore. The 35-year Moore is entering the final year of his deal and will make $1.5 million. Etem would have to clear waivers and could be claimed, something GM Jeff Gorton likely doesn’t want to see since he acquired him in the Carl Hagelin trade.
- Tim Panaccio of CSN Philly: Flyers GM Ron Hextall wants to make a trade by Tuesday’s 5:00 pm roster deadline as they have one more skater to cut. Vincent Lecavalier has a no-movement clause and must approve any trade.
“You can’t expose a player that you don’t want to lose at this point, short term,” Hextall said. “So we’ll try and keep our assets and see how things work as we go along. We’re going to have needs and maybe we can fill a need with somebody that we have on our roster, so who knows.
“These things are really hard to predict and I don’t know what we’re going to be looking for and other teams don’t know what they want right now. So it’s kind of the time of the year where you analyze your team and see what you have and if you have a weakness try and fill it, either through a trade or a waiver.”