- Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet: On Phil Kessel’s comments (“I love Toronto. But if it’s not here, it’s not here.”)
I always thought Kessel would be immune to these depths, because he can insulate himself from the world. Now, teammates say he’s had enough of the maelstrom.
That quote is exactly how he feels: “I won’t stand in the way of whatever you want to do.”
There is increased talk on Tyler Bozak. He has three years left with a $4.2 million cap hit. If teams see him as a No. 2 center, then his contract isn’t bad. If they think he’s a No. 3, his contract is too much.
The longer the Leafs hold onto Mike Santorelli, the more teams can get involved. They would probably get a 2nd round pick for him right now, but could demand increase the price?
Trade chatter is higher in the West than in the East. The Ducks, Jets, Predators and Blues are driving trade talk. Ducks looking for help on the blueline.
The Blackhawks don’t have a lot of room to add someone.
Chris Neil could end up in Nashville if GM David Poile wants to make that move. The Jets would make sense for Neil, but sounds like they are on his 15-team no-trade list.
Wonder if the Kings would go after Andrej Sekera.
Two teams wonder if the Jets took on Tyler Myers to keep him or to flip him.
The Flames were in on both Evander Kane and Tyler Myers.
The Capitals also made a run at Kane. They also were after him at last year’s draft. The Coyotes didn’t have the extra first round pick or the young forwards that the Sabres did. The Canucks wouldn’t include Bo Horvat, Jake Virtanen or Jared McCann.
The Kings asked about Myers a while ago, but were not interested in trading Tanner Pearson or Tyler Toffoli. The Leafs also asked.
Earlier this season, heard the Sabres asked the Bruins about Malcolm Subban and were told no.
- Tom Gulitti: The Devils are 12 points out of the last wildcard spot with 28 games left. The Devils have pending UFAs in Jaromir Jagr, Marek Zidlicky (no-trade clause), Michael Ryder, Martin Havlat and Scott Gomez.
“What we learn more and more every day is this is a business,” Gomez said. “Unless you’ve got a no-trade, there’s nothing you can do. You can’t let that be your focus. It’s tough because your name is brought up and that’s part of it, but I think the organization is pretty good about keeping the focus. It’s been Chicago, Chicago, Chicago and we’ll go from there.”
- Sam Carchidi: Flyers GM Ron Hextall wouldn’t comment on whether he was in on Evander Kane.
- Chip Alexander: Hurricanes GM Ron Francis on how active they will be leading up to the deadline: “We hope to be fairly active.”
- Ansar Khan: Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said that Petr Mrazek will back up Jimmy Howard tomorrow. They’ll go day-by-day after that with regards to their three goalie situation. So, no decision yet on whether he’ll be returned to the AHL.