On the Vancouver Cancuks and the Dallas Stars…
Patrick Johnston of the Vancouver Province: Pierre LeBrun reported that Canucks GM Jim Benning is looking for a scoring winger. The Canucks had been looking for one for most of the offseason.
Problem for the Canucks is that they don’t have a lot of trade chips. It’s hard to see them trading any of their top three prospects in Thatcher Demko, Brock Boeser and Olli Juolevi.
Jeff Paterson tweeted that potential trade partners want Boeser, Demko or next year’s first round pick.
LeBrun noted during TSN’s Insider trading that the Dallas Stars could use a more reliable goaltender than either Antti Niemi or Kari Lehtonen. Would the Stars be interested in Ryan Miller? Johnston notes that Miller carries a $6 million cap hit and will be a UFA at the end of the season. Niemi carries a $4.5 million cap hit for this season and next, and could be a decent option to back up Jacob Markstrom.
On the San Jose Sharks …
Chris Nichols of Today’s Slapshot: Bob McKenzie on TSN 690 on the San Jose Sharks pending free agents Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau and Brent Burns.
“Joe Thornton is not going anywhere,” said McKenzie. “Joe will call his own shot in San Jose. He wants to stay. They want him back. He’ll probably get another three-year deal at some point, I would think, and it’ll be a fill-in-the-blank type deal, I’m sure.”
Not saying that the Sharks don’t want Patrick Marleau back, but he may not be a core member of the team any more. He asked for a trade last year and may want to test the free agent market this offseason.
Burns is a big part of the Sharks blueline, is an impact guy, and is one of the better defensemen in the league.
“I think in many ways he wants to be back in San Jose. If Joe’s signed up, and they’ve got their core with Couture, Pavelski, and Hertl and some of those guys – Vlasic – there’s an excellent chance he could be back. It’s just a matter of him and his agent having to figure out how they’re going to make the contract work so that the team – that core – can stay together.”
The Sharks and Burns could have signed an extension during the offseason, but talks never really got going. Burns could be keeping an open mind and seeing how the season goes before committing long-term.
“So I can’t sit here and tell you, by any stretch, that he won’t be back with San Jose next year. But I would also caution and say that we shouldn’t assume that it’s an absolute slam-dunk that he will be back with San Jose.”
