- DJ Bean of WEEI: Sabres Chris Stewart knows his name is in the rumor mill and tied to the Bruins.
“I’d be lying if I haven’t heard it. You see it on Twitter every day,” Stewart told WEEI.com after Sunday’s game. “People you and stuff like that, but that’s stuff that’s out of my control. I’m just going to take it game-by-game here and worry about playing well for the Sabres.”
Stewart carries a $4.15 million cap hit, the Bruins would need move some salary out. His cap hit, along with his struggles this season may be holding a deal up.
“I like to consider myself a hard-nosed player who can stick up for his teammates,” Stewart said. “If I do get open, I can put the puck in the net. So yeah, I think that could be a good fit.”
- Elliotte Pap of the Vancouver Sun: Canucks Zack Kassian wasn’t happy to hear that his name could be involved in trade talk.
“I love Vancouver and I love to play for this team,” he responded. “But that’s the business we’re in. Is it true? I don’t know. But, like I said, I have a lot to prove when I get back. I know that I’ve kind of under-achieved so far and I’m looking forward to getting back and working my way into the lineup and being the guy that I was last year for the last stretch of the season.”
- Nichols on Hockey: Elliotte Friedman on Sportsnet 960 radio: Friedman thinks the Bruins really want to make some moves. Boston also has to pay attention to next years cap situation. They have an idea already what it will take for Torey Krug and Reilly Smith extensions.
Flyers GM Ron Hextall said that teams are leery of next years cap number and don’t want to add players that have term left on their contract.Blues T.J. Oshie has term left and it may be scaring the Bruins. The Blues likely won’t do anything until Brian Elliott returns.
- Nichols on Hockey: Pierre LeBrun on TSN 1040 radio talking about the Canucks.
“I do think one of the reasons you’ve heard different things from different corners… is that Jim Benning was on the phone with a number of teams just to see where they’re at and what they’d be willing to do. And sometimes it’s within these phone calls that happen this early, that actually things transpire closer to March 2, right? Trades don’t just happen out of the blue. A lot of the groundwork is done way ahead of time in terms of knowing how far teams are willing to go on a certain player and certain conversations. That’s what you do as a GM – you set the stage on many different fronts, so that when it is time to react when you don’t have a lot of time on the clock, a lot of the work has been done on different fronts. So I think the Canucks have laid down some groundwork on a couple of different fronts, for sure.”
- Hope Smoke: Darren Dreger on TSN radio: “For a myriad of reasons acquiring that player to fix things is hard to do for a cap team ” … “It could be an interesting 2nd half for teams I include the Leafs in that mix due to what they’re facing with contracts” … “There are a lot of pretty big contracts that Nonis is going to have to deal with” … “Then you have the mystery of Gardiner. Doesn’t have a contract issue other than for the Leafs. Not worth $4 now, maybe in a few yrs” … “Have to ask yourself as management, do you strike with Gardiner while there is still value and move that $ to get something in return?” … “There are a collection of critics who won’t allow Gardiner to develop. Every time he makes a turnover its a headline” … “If you’re getting a Yandle back for Gardiner, does that satisfy some of your problems? I’m just speculating here.”
- Hope Smoke: Dreger will once a week say that Jake Gardiner and anyone else on the Maple Leafs roster could be available for the right price. The Leafs are listening and not shopping.
