- Brian Compton: Opening night was eight weeks away from last night.
- Dennis Bernstein: Bernstein thinks that if Willie Mitchell can remain healthy, the Kings could look to deal Alec Martinez to a team that incurs an injury to their blueline.
- Michael Smith: Elias Lindholm has left Brynas to join the Hurricanes.
- Sarah McLellan: Sounding like Phoenix could get an All-Star Game soon. “We’re going to do that at some point,” Bettman said. “I don’t know what the date is yet but it’ll be our pleasure to honor a commitment to bring the All-Star Game here.”
- The Stats Guy: The five oldest teams: PIT (29.7), NJ (29.6), NYI (28.6), PHI (28.6), EDM (28.3).
- The Stats Guy: The five youngest teams: OTT (26.1), CBJ (26.4), TOR (26.5), COL (26.5), LA (26.5).
- Adrian Dater of the Denver Post: (Q&A from last week)
“Ryan O’Reilly will be a left winger. Is this the wrong decision?” — Could be. He’s been a center his whole life, but now he’ll be expected to be the one who changes position for the good of the team. But with Paul Stastny, Matt Duchene and Nathan MacKinnon already here as centers, O’Reilly was the odd-man out.
“If O’Reilly doesn’t play well, is it a foregone conclusion he’ll be traded later in the season?” — Not necessarily. Both he and Stastny are entering their final contract years, but the Avs would retain O’Reilly’s rights after this coming season ends. Not so with Stastny. He can become an unrestricted free agent. If they don’t think the numbers on a future deal add up, Stastny would be prime trade bait at the deadline.
“Doesn’t it look like either Stastny or O’Reilly will have to go at some point soon?” — Yeah, probably.
