On Kevin Shattenkirk, Toronto Maple Leafs and Anaheim Ducks …
Luke Fox of Sportsnet: Brett Hull, who works for the St. Louis Blues, said last week about Kevin Shattenkirk: “he wanted to go back home, back east to the New York or Boston area.”
Next offseason Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Cam Fowler and John Carlson could be free agents.
Do the Maple Leafs trade some forward depth this offseason for a top-four right handed shot this offseason or do they wait?
Cody Franson could be a Plan B option for Leafs. He’d be relatively cheap and a short-term deal.
thinks the Maple Leafs should be calling the Anaheim Ducks, Carolina Hurricanes and Minnesota Wild about one of their young defensemen.
The Ducks need to find a way to protect Jakob Silfverberg in the expansion draft. Currently if they protect him, the would have to expose one of Sami Vatanen or Josh Manson or Cam Fowler.
On the Dallas Stars …
Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News: The Stars will expose one of Kari Lehtonen or Antti Niemi for the expansion draft but it’s very unlikely that the Vegas Golden Knights will select a Stars goalie. The Stars could acquire a goalie before the draft and make both available.
The NY Rangers, Washington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins may look to move one of their goaltenders before the draft rather than potentially losing one for nothing. The Columbus Blue Jackets may look to move Joonas Korpisalo.
Teams looking for a goaltender – and teams that wouldn’t have an issue protecting a new goalie – is somewhat limited. The Stars, Calgary Flames, Colorado Avalanche, Detroit Red Wings and Philadelphia Flyers might consider something.
The Stars could also buy out Antti Niem, keep Kari Lehtonen for another year and sign an unrestricted free agent – Ben Bishop or Steve Mason.
The Stars definitely need to address their goaltending situation before next season
