- TSN Insider Trading: Dreger: A good chance that the Maple Leafs don’t trade Phil Kessel.McKenzie: If they can get a good return for any of Kessel, Dion Phaneuf, Tyler Bozak and others, they will do it. Haven’t heard Phaneuf’s name at all. The Leafs could be in on the free agent market with a hybrid rebuild.Kevin Bieksa hasn’t been asked to waive his no-trade, but his name is out there. Sounding like Eddie Lack will be moved over Jacob Markstrom.
The Oilers are interested in goalies Cam Talbot and Martin Jones.
Dreger: The Avs trading for the rights to Carl Soderberg means they’ll likely trade Ryan O’Reilly.
Islanders GM Garth Snow is saying he doesn’t plan on trading Kyle Okposo.
- Maple Leafs Hot Stove: Bob McKenzie on TSN radio.
“I think the Leafs want to be active. They want to try to trade Phil Kessel. I don’t get a strong sense that Dion Phaneuf’s name is out there in play a lot.”
- Chuck Gormley of CSN Washington: Capitals Eric Fehr will be talking teams that might be interested in signing the pending UFA forward.
“Eric has had significant interest and he will be participating in the interview period,” Fehr’s agent, Craig Oster, said Thursday, adding that he never talked contract term or value with the Capitals.
“I think it’s the Capitals having to prioritize how to allocate their resources,” Oster said, referring to pending restricted free agents Braden Holtby, Marcus Johansson and Evgeny Kuznetsov. “They have limited resources and have to make some tough choices.”
Fehr is coming off two-year deal with a $1.5 million cap hit, and he could be looking to double his salary, which is something that the Capitals didn’t seem comfortable with.
“Eric has mentioned to them all along that if there was a possibility of doing something that makes sense for both sides he’d be interested in coming back,” Oster said. “I think Washington recognized that in the preliminary discussions we had that Eric has certain expectations and because of that I guess they made a determination that it’s just not going to work, or there are other things they have to focus on first.
“I think Eric’s first priority was to stay in Washington and he never had the opportunity to get into meaningful discussions about doing that.”