On the Philadelphia Flyers …
Sam Carchidi of the Philadelphia Inquirer: Flyers GM Ron Hextall will be looking to upgrade their offense this offseason. They could use two scorers, but their cap situation could handcuff them. Hextall may only be able to add one free agent forward.
UFAs that could interest the Flyers include David Backes, Mikkel Boedker, Troy Brouwer, Loui Eriksson, Andrew Ladd, Milan Lucic, Jamie McGinn, Kyle Okposo and Steven Stamkos.
On the Tampa Bay Lightning and Steven Stamkos …
Luke Fox of Sportsnet: Dave Andreychuk, the Lightning’s VP of Corporate and Community Affairs on Sportsnet’s Hockey Central at Noon yesterday on Steven Stamkos.
“Steven is going to come back. He’s going to be fine,” Dave Andreychuk told Hockey Central at Noon Wednesday.
“I still believe that Steve Yzerman is trying whatever he can do to sign Steven Stamkos, and I believe it will happen. Even with all this going on, I think it will happen.”
The Lightning already have $52.2 million committed for next season. The Lightning won’t have an internal budget next year.
“That’s not an easy job for Steve Yzerman,” Andreychuk said. “Thankfully our owner has said to Steve, ‘Whatever the cap is, that’s what you got.’ If we were in any other smaller market, ownership is putting the cap at $60 million, and now you’re in trouble.”
On the Montreal Canadiens and P.K. Subban …
Jack Todd of the Montreal Gazette: For those who think it would be a good idea for the Canadiens to trade P.K. Subban to the Maple Leafs for the chance to draft Auston Matthews, “get real.”
There is no way the Canadiens should trade Subban for the Maple Leafs No. 1 pick, or the Oilers pick at No. 4 – not even if the Oilers throw in an elite forward or two. Todd notes:
“There are no more than five or six defencemen in the league like him, while there are a couple of dozen forwards who will likely grade above Matthews for years to come.”
The Canadiens window to win is now, you keep the core of Carey Price, Subban, Brendan Gallagher, Max Pacioretty and Alex Galchenyuk together.
