- Aaron Portzline of the Columbus Dispatch: The Blue Jackets James Wisniewski has a modified no-trade list where he can name 10 teams he won’t accept a trade too. The Blue Jackets asked him to submit a list last Monday, the 17th. Two sources last night said the Blue Jackets are shopping him.
“I want to be here,” Wisniewski told The Dispatch this morning. “They know I want to be here.”
GM Kekalainen said a Wisniewski trade wasn’t imminent on Sunday after he was made a healthy scratch. Wisniewski said he doesn’t want to be traded and hopes to stay.
“I haven’t really at any time wanted to be traded,” Wisniewski said. “I’ve always wanted to be a Columbus Blue Jacket. I love it here. As of right now, I’m a Columbus Blue Jacket. I’m here to win hockey games.”
- Brett Cyrgalis of the NY Post: Sources within the Islanders organization said their plan is to stand pat. It’s not to say that GM Garth Snow won’t be taking/making calls. Snow won’t be actively pursuing anything. The Islanders don’t have a lot of draft picks and a bunch of their young players are off-limits. One source said their trade deadline was October 4th when they traded for Nick Leddy and Johnny Boychuk. (Leddy just signed for seven years with a $5.5 million cap hit)
- Michael Russo of the Star Tribune: When the Wild lost Jason Zucker and Ryan Carter on Feb. 9th, GM Chuck Fletcher wondered if he’d have to make a big deal to save their season.
“By the same token,” the Wild general manager said a night later in Winnipeg, “every time you have an injury, you can’t just rush to the market and fill it via trade. Our first thought right now is just to provide this opportunity to the players that are here and we’ll go from there.”
Fletcher will look to improve their depth.
“If we can upgrade a certain area, obviously we’ll always look to do that. But at a minimum, you want to make sure your depth is good. We have to make sure we know when our injured players are coming back. We could be fine. But I want to make sure.”