- Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun: Betting the Leafs don’t get Mike Babcock if he doesn’t re-sign with the Red Wings. The Leafs will wait to see who loses their job after the season. Candidates could be Todd McLellan (SJ) and Dave Tippett (ARI). If their teams are eliminated quickly, Ken Hitchcock (STL) and Bruce Boudreau (ANA) could be out of work.
- Ansar Khan of MLive: (mailbag) The Red Wings core in five years could consist of: “Nyquist, Tatar, Abdelkader, Riley Sheahan, Tomas Jurco, Darren Helm, Anthony Mantha, Teemu Pulkkinen and Dylan Larkin up front; Danny DeKeyser, Brendan Smith, Xavier Ouellet, Alexey Marchenko and Ryan Sproul on defense and Petr Mrazek in goal.”Doubtful the Red Wings buyout Johan Franzen ($3.95 million cap hit). He has five years left on his deal after this season. It could be an option at the end of next season if he continues down this path.
If the Red Wings are going to give up a good prospect/young player or future first-round pick, it should be for a top-pair defenseman.
- Dennis Bernstein: “Rarely see 2 teams execs lined up next to each other in press row. Jets and Leafs braintrusts in LA.”
- Sportsnet: Elliotte Friedman said that Eric Staal wants to remain with the Hurricanes and doesn’t plan on waiving his no-trade clause anytime soon. Staal has a $8.25 million cap hit and a salary next year of $9.5 million. Damien Cox says the Wild may not be interested in Cam Ward and could turn to the Sabres: Jhonas Enroth and Michal Neuvirth.