On the Detroit Red Wings …
Craig Custance of the Athletic – Detroit: The Detroit Red Wings need help on defense. It seems that the way to acquire a better defenseman is to trade their prized, young forward. Ken Holland stated:
“I’m not looking to trade any of our 21, 22 or 23 year olds for players who are five, six or seven years older,” Holland told The Athletic. “If I’m going to trade, and I might not, the trade has to be there. It has to make sense. It has to make sense for the other team. It has to be a similar age.”
A young defenseman in his early 20’s is tough to come by. However, Andreas Athansiou can pique some interest.
On the Edmonton Oielrs, New York Islanders, Montreal Canadiens, New Jersey Devils, Minnesota Wild
TSN Insiders: At last, Jordan Eberle was traded to the New York Islanders for Ryan Strome. That is it. Edmonton saves some cap space and gets a young forward with a little potential. New York gets its forward to play with John Tavares. The Islanders may be asking too much for Travis Hamonic. Calgary is in this.
Alex Galchenyuk rumors point more toward New Jersey than anywhere else. Minnesota tried to do something but could not pull the trigger. They still have at least a defenseman to trade. Montreal and Buffalo could be destinations. Expect another team to move in.
On the Chicago Blackhawks…
Mark Lazerus of the Chicago Sun Times: does not lament the loss of Trevor van Riemsdyk. Here is why.
“Leading into the draft, there was a perception throughout the season that there was going to be all this flood of activity leading into the expansion draft, but it didn’t really play out that way,” Hawks general manager Stan Bowman said. “Nobody really knows why, but there weren’t a lot of deals, because I think everyone’s in the same position, where they have a certain number of players they can protect. As a result, you saw maybe a couple of moves, but very few of those types of transactions. Because everyone had their own little puzzle to put together.”
Alas, van Riemsdyk wound up in Carolina. As for Marcus Kruger, all is quiet for now. He could still be moved.
