On the Chicago Blackhawks …
- Chris Hine of the Chicago Tribune: (mailbag) Think that GM Stan Bowman will look to add before the trade deadline. Not known what he’d like to add and what what he’d be willing to pay for it. He could be looking for a top-four defenseman. They do have some cap room to work with.Biggest need may be a top-four defenseman. Trevor van Riemsdyk has done well playing top-four minutes, but may be better suited for their bottom pairing at the moment.
On the Boston Bruins …
- Joe McDonald of ESPN: Bruins President Cam Neely on expansion.
“Well, you want it to be right. As far as enough players, I guess it could be debatable. Can an expansion team be a competitive team early in its expansion? It’s hard to say. It has to be right and that’s why the league has taken its time because they want to make sure it’s right. It would be nice to have balanced conferences, I can say that.”
Neely on how active they will be before the trade deadline.
“Listen, we talk on a regular basis how to improve our club. If there’s a deal to be made that’s going to help our club, we’ll do it. We’ve got more assets now than we’ve had in a long time. We have some flexibility with the cap that we haven’t had the luxury of in awhile, so hopefully with those two things, it gives us more opportunity — although it’s not easy to make deals.”
On no-trade/no-movement clauses …
- Sam Carchidi: Flyers R.J. Umberger said that sites that track players no-trade/no-movement clauses are wrong. Adds that he has a no-movement clause.
- WAR On Ice: No-trade and no-movement clauses are nullified after player is traded, unless the team that the player was traded to honors them, which is usually done behind closed doors.