- The Fourth Period: Scouting Directors and management from the Blues, Blue Jackets and Maple Leafs have watched Oilers games recently. 22 scouts were at the Oilers-Coyotes game last week. Teams are looking at Jeff Petry, Nail Yakupov and Jordan Eberle. The Blue Jackets, Leafs, Blues, Red Wings, Bruins and Flyers are believed to be among the teams that have reached out the Oilers according to sources. No trade is imminent. Trade talks are ongoing and Oilers GM Craig MacTavish will continue to take calls. Dallas Eakins could also be on the hot seat.
- Dan Rosen of NHL.com: (mailbag) Rosen doesn’t see why the Oilers would accept a Chris Kelly, Matt Bartkowski and the Islanders pick for Jordan Eberle trade. The Oilers should start with Malcolm Subban and go from there. Eberle would be a good fit for the Oilers, but his $6 million cap hit through 2018-19 would make it difficult to re-sign the likes of Dougie Hamilton, Torey Krug, Reilly Smith, Carl Soderberg and Adam McQuaid.Rosen doesn’t think the Jets should make a change behind the bench. They should look to improve in net. If they are going to Evander Kane, they better get a lot in return for him.
Tyler Myers would be the perfect right-handed defenseman for the Red Wings. Gustav Nyquist and Anthony Mantha should be non-starters for any trade. Prospects that should get some teams interested in, include: Landon Ferraro, Ryan Sproul, Xavier Ouellet, Alexey Marchenko and Petr Mrazek. Any Myers trade could cost one to three of those prospects plus possibly draft picks.
- Joe Haggerty of CSNNE: (mailbag) Puts the odds of the Bruins and Oilers ability to get a Jordan Eberle trade together at 25 to 30 percent. The Oilers need a center, a top four defenseman, goalie help and someone to shut down opponents top players.
- Rob Rossi of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: Penguins Marc-Andre Fleury will be a UFA at the end of the season and has been told by GM Jim Rutherford that he won’t be going anywhere beforehand.
“What Jim is expressing publicly is exactly what he’s expressed privately to Marc and myself,” agent Allan Walsh said. “He expressed that to us when he had just taken over as the GM.”
Walsh will be in Pittsburgh in a few weeks, so it’s possible that the parameters of a new deal could be put in place.
