- Tom Gulitti: Devils GM Lou Lamoriello won’t talk about his deadline plans.
“That’s something that is not even on the agenda tonight,” he said. “Right now, we’re just trying to feel good about the win.”
Players say they are not thinking about the deadline, but team has talked about it.
“You hear talk of it,” he said. “We gossip like anybody else does or a lot of us are fans of hockey just like anybody else. So, we like to hold hot stove and talk about some scoops, but these things are far from our control.”
- Craig Custance of ESPN: The Blackhawks signed third string goalie Scott Darling to a two-year contract extension. Does this signal that that GM Stan Bowman could trade one of his other goalies at some point? Antti Raanta was pursued by the Wild and Blue Jackets when he was in Finland.
- Damien Cox of Sportsnet: Blue Jackets right-handed defenseman James Wisniewski was a healthy scratch on Sunday. He has a $5.5 million cap hit for the next two season. The Canadiens are one of the teams that has been linked to Wisniewski.
- Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: Penguins GM Jim Rutherford is not interested in trading pending UFA Paul Martin.
“I have absolutely no interest in trading him,” Rutherford said. “I am not pursuing a conversation with anyone.”
Martin will be 35-years old next month and it’s too early to predict if he’ll be back next year. The Penguins have Derrick Pouliot, Scott Harrington and Brian Dumoulin looking for a bigger role.
- Don Brennan of the Ottawa Sun: Won’t be surprise if the Senators trade Erik Condra and Colin Greening for draft picks. Condra is a pending UFA and they don’t have any plans on re-signing him.
- Scott Power of ESPN Chicago: Michal Handzus may be interested in returning to the NHL next season.
“He’s doing well,” Matt Keator, Handzus’ agent, said Monday. “His career is not over. He still has some interest in maybe coming back and trying to play next year here. I think he’s taking this season to heal up from past injuries and play over in Europe and be with his family. But he hasn’t ruled out trying to come back next year.”