It is that time of year when trade speculation runs rampant — although, in some cases, for no real reason.
This brings us to Rasmus Andersson. Teams have called the Calgary Flames about the top-four defenseman, and the answer to each team has been the same: There’s no interest in trading him.
Why would they? They’re legitimately in a playoff race in the Western Conference, and Andersson’s contract has another year on it after this season. The Flames plan to try to extend Andersson this summer. There’s no guarantee they can get that done, but for the time being, they’ve got time on their side before crossing that bridge.
Flames general manager Craig Conroy has even talked to Andersson recently to make sure he knows the trade speculation is not real. The Flames want to keep some key veterans around as they continue their retool. They don’t want to tear it down. They see Andersson as one of those key veterans. At least for this season, that’s the plan.
Speaking of the Flames, they continue to scour the market for a 25-and-under, right-shot center, which is a difficult proposition. They are among the very long list of teams that have checked in with the Buffalo Sabres regarding 23-year-old Dylan Cozens.
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Don’t forget Matt Duchene for Team Canada
There are so many good forwards who didn’t make Canada’s 4 Nations roster, led by the likes of Mark Scheifele, John Tavares, Zach Hyman, Robert Thomas and Wyatt Johnston.
But don’t forget about Matt Duchene. His name was more strongly considered by Team Canada before the Dec. 4 roster reveal than perhaps most people realized.
Duchene played on Canada’s gold medal-winning team in Sochi in 2014, and the veteran forward has seen a resurgence in his game since signing with the Dallas Stars two years ago.
And yes, he was aware that he was on Team Canada’s radar and hoped to get that call Dec. 4.
“I was obviously disappointed, but at the same time, I was proud that I was right there, and you want to keep playing in case something were to happen (injuries),’’ Duchene told The Athletic on Tuesday while the Stars were in Toronto. “I mean, the thing about being a Canadian forward is that you could probably make three teams and one of them could beat any of the other ones, you know? It’s so equal.
“There’s a lot of great players that aren’t on that team as well. You can never look at it but feel anything but grateful that you had a chance. There’s a lot of different ways to pick teams, and obviously I’ve been there before and I was disappointed not to be there this year. But going forward, there’s another chance next year. That’s how I’m looking at it. Playing for Team Canada has meant a lot to me in my career. Some of my best memories have been doing that. I would love to have a chance to do it again. So you just have to keep working and try to earn it.’’
Matt Duchene has 103 points in 122 games with the Stars. (Michael Reaves / Getty Images)
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Stars can be big-time buyers but will be patient
The Stars still haven’t put Tyler Seguin on long-term injured reserve, wanting to wait as long as possible to accrue more cap space. But when they do park his $9.85 million cap hit, they’ll be one of the more dangerous Cup contenders to monitor ahead of the March 7 trade deadline.
They are making their calls right now, but the plan is to be patient and wait until after the 4 Nations event to decide where to act. The idea is to see if more injuries change their needs. Roope Hintz is the latest Stars forward to get dinged up, leaving Tuesday’s win with an upper-body injury. There was no update on him after the game. Mason Marchment is also out a few more weeks, so Dallas is certainly banged up at forward.
The Stars could add both a top-six forward and a top-four defenseman, potentially, with all that cap flexibility. Or perhaps two forwards are what the doctor ordered. There’s interest in Brock Nelson, but it’s not clear yet if the New York Islanders will move him.
Either way, we can expect the Stars to potentially be involved in more than one transaction before the deadline. GM Jim Nill is never shy to be aggressive at the deadline, and now he’s going to have ample cap money to play with. That should be a concern to every Western Conference contender.
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Oilers cast wide net on D trade market
The Edmonton Oilers’ defense has been better than advertised this season considering the summer losses and changes, but it has also been relatively healthy. With that in mind, upgrading the blue line is a priority ahead of the deadline. Whether that upgrade is to their top four or simply depth, Edmonton wants to add at least a defenseman.
Edmonton had pro scouting meetings last week to start trade-deadline preparations, putting names on a wish list, etc. And what came out of it was the idea of casting as wide a net as possible to start. The initial search doesn’t necessarily zero in on one specific type of defender, as the front office feels it has flexibility in its current group. There are shutdown defensemen on the list and also puck-movers. Righties and lefties.
So, for example, a right-handed defenseman who kills penalties like David Savard would fit, but so would a puck-moving left-handed defenseman. It will really depend on how the market shakes out over the coming eight weeks.
TSN colleague Darren Dreger reported Tuesday that the Oilers are among the teams with interest in free agent John Klingberg as he continues to recover from a hip-resurfacing surgery as well.
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Caps and their pending UFA goalies
The first-place Washington Capitals have a unique situation on their hands: Both of their goalies, Logan Thompson and Charlie Lindgren, are pending unrestricted free agents.
The latter was the big story last year as Lindgren had a career season that helped pave the way for Darcy Kuemper to get dealt in the offseason.
The trade for Thompson at the draft on June 29 has turned into a stroke of genius by the Caps. He’s also having a career season. But he needs a new contract and a sizeable raise from the $766,667 he’s earning in the last year of the three-year deal he signed with Vegas.
While there have been very preliminary discussions with both Thompson and Lindgren, the sense I get is that the Capitals are treading carefully. They like both goalies and the way they’ve worked as a tandem this season but haven’t convinced themselves of the need to re-sign both right away, especially with other pending UFAs on the roster such as Jakob Chychrun, Andrew Mangiapane and Nic Dowd.
And I think there’s also some concern from Caps management that if they extend one goalie now and not the other, it could have a negative impact on the dressing room.
The Caps will continue to talk to the respective agents for both goalies, and I assume they’ll end up signing at least one of them, but they’re going about it very carefully for the time being.
Logan Thompson is 19-2-3 with a 2.23 goals-against average and .921 save percentage this season. (Patrick Smith / Getty Images)
Habs don’t want to trade Evans, but …
The Montreal Canadiens have let Jake Evans know they are interested in keeping him around but that it can’t be a home-run deal. And that’s the rub as far as how this may play out.
As of late last week, there had only been preliminary discussions with the pending UFA forward. He’s playing some of the best hockey of his career, and at 28, this is his best shot to cash in. Term is likely going to be the hurdle in this negotiation, I’m not convinced the Canadiens are comfortable going five or six years, and again, Evans is at an age where that security might be important.
Both sides will take a crack at it, but there’s no guarantee it gets done, and despite where the team is at in the standings, depending on trade offers they may have to listen hard if he’s not extended by March 7. He’s making only $1.7 million this season, and cap-challenged contenders find that very appealing. The New Jersey Devils are among the teams that have already kicked tires.
Can he be extended and stay put? Yes. But it’d probably take both sides getting a little uncomfortable with the deal.
(Top photo of Rasmus Andersson: Christian Petersen / Getty Images)
