On the Tampa Bay Lightning …
- Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times: Defenseman Matt Carle will be a healthy scratch for six of the past seven, and nine of the past 12 games. He might be part of trade talks. He has a no-movement clause and carries a $5.5 million cap hit through 2017-18.
- There is still interest in Jonathan Drouin, and deal may end up being a multi-player package. The Blues are still scouting the Lightning, with director of player personnel Rob DiMaio at the Lightning game on Wednesday.
On the Arizona Coyotes …
- Craig Morgan of Arizona Sports: Pending UFA Mikkel Boedker once again deflected the state of his contract discussions.
“It’s part of my job to block it out, right?” he said. “My agent and the team, they’ve got a handle on it. It’s between them. I’m just a bystander. All I can do is play hockey and do the best I can.”
There hasn’t been much progress in their negotiations – there has been no movement towards a deal. With nothing imminent, and just over 20 days remaining before the trade deadline, Boedker could find himself playing somewhere else.
“The union and the players and the agents have the ability to talk and script who gets signed when and for how much,” Maloney said. “You can’t do that on the team side because it’s collusion.
“There are teams trying to sign players but it seems like the (length of the) term is the issue with everybody now. You can’t blame the players, but everybody is looking for six-, seven- or eight-year deals. That’s where it gets dicey.”
Both GM Don Maloney and Boedker’s agent, Jarrett Bousquet, aren’t saying much publicly about the negotiations.
If they end up trading Boedker while they are in a playoff spot, or still in the race, it likely won’t sit well with fans, teammates and the coaching staff. But, it would be hard for the Coyotes to lose him for nothing after the season.
A few years ago, the Coyotes could have signed Boedker to a five-year deal with a cap hit of $3.25 million, but Maloney didn’t do it because he thought Boedker wasn’t fully established and the organizations finances were still up in the air.