On the LA Kings, Vancouver Canucks and Pittsburgh Penguins …
- Pierre LeBrun of ESPN: The Kings had been all-in on Dustin Byfuglien. Would Dan Hamhuis waive his no-trade clause for the Kings? Roman Polak could be another option.The Kings may make a contract offer to Milan Lucic in the next few weeks.
The Canucks are still undecided on Hamhuis and Radim Vrbata. Vrbata has a modified no-trade clause. He submits an eight team trade list, which he hasn’t done yet.
LeBrun doesn’t think the Penguins will make a big move as they’ve already traded away a lot of future assets. They could look to add a depth defenseman and/or depth forward.
- Pierre LeBrun: Guessing that if there was a team interested in Christian Ehrhoff, they’d call the Kings to see if they would take a salary or contract back.
- Thomas Drance of Sportsnet: Trevor Linden on the trade deadline.
“I do think there is a premium on young players and draft picks,” Canucks president Trevor Linden told Sportsnet on Wednesday, noting that inflationary pressures from Group 2 restricted free agents and the low relative value of the Canadian market have served to increase the value of young talent.
“It will be interesting to see how things play out leading up to (February) 29th.”
Linden said that they haven’t talked to Dan Hamhuis about his no-trade clause and about a contract extension.
“We haven’t had any contract discussions with Dan,” Linden told Sportsnet. “We talked to him and his reps earlier in the year, just sort of said we’re in a bit of a wait-and-see type situation. Dan is a quality guy, he’s been a great Vancouver Canuck and he’s a leader in our room. We haven’t come to that determination yet and we haven’t had any discussions with Dan yet.”
On the Carolina Hurricanes …
- Andy Strickland: Safe to assume that Eric Staal and Cam Ward are not really interested in leaving Carolina at this point.