On the Dallas Stars …
- Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News: (mailbag) If the Stars are going to go after a big named player, Valeri Nichushkin or Julius Honka could be on the table. If they look to make a smaller move, players like Patrik Nemeth, Jamie Oleksiak or Jyrki Jokipakka could be available. If they are looking to move salary, Ales Hemsky or Travis Moen are options.
- Heika would like to see the Stars go after someone like the Brent Bruns or Alex Edler, but those two likely aren’t going to be traded. Travis Hamonic would be a good fit, but he wants to be closer to home.
- Heika thinks it could be a quiet trade deadline for the Stars.
On the New York Islanders, Vancouver Canucks, Calgary Flames and San Jose Sharks …
- Bob McKenzie of TSN: Sense is that teams would like to trade for Travis Hamonic before the deadline, but Islanders GM may prefer to wait until the offseason. Unless Snow gets a great offer, Hamonic will likely finish the season with the Islanders. The Oilers and Jets are obvious trade partners.
- There is no real sense that the Islanders will trade pending UFAs Kyle Okposo and Frans Nielsen. Snow knows that it won’t be easy to re-sign Okposo, and if they are not able to do so, they could use the money saved on him and spend it elsewhere.
- If he’s able to remain healthy and play like he can, Canucks defenseman Dan Hamhuis could be the top rental defenseman available. The Canucks will see how the next few weeks goes before deciding if they are sellers. He has a full no-trade clause. He could accept a trade and then look to re-sign on July 1st. As of yesterday, the Canucks had not received one call on Hamhuis. The Kings would be one of the teams interested.
- The Flames and Kris Russell haven’t had serious contract talks. If Russell hits the open market, he’d likely get a five-year offer between $5 and $5.5 million per season. It would be hard for the Flames to fit Russell in at those numbers. Would be easier to if they could move Dennis Wideman. A Wideman deal isn’t imminent, but he could be moved. McKenzie thinks Russell will be moved at the deadline and sign elsewhere on July 1st.
- The Oilers, Coyotesa and Sharks are significantly interested in overager Jon Martin of Swift Current. It’s expected that he’ll end up with the Sharks.