On Matt Duchene, Jaroslav Halak, Dmitry Kulikov, Cody Franson, Shane Doan, Vegas Golden Knights, Radim Vrbata, Ryan Miller, Pittsburgh Penguins and Tampa Bay Lightning …
Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Citizen: It’s believed the the Ottawa Senators, Montreal Canadiens, New York Islanders and Carolina Hurricanes all had interest in Matt Duchene and Gabriel Landeskog. Those teams wouldn’t match Sakic’s ridiculous asking price.
Sakic was looking for four assets for either Duchene or Landeskog, and the asking price never came down.
Have to think that at least one of Duchene or Landeskog won’t be back with the Avalanche next season. Sakic will revisit talks in the offseason.
It’s believed as many as three teams showed interest in Islanders goalie Jaroslav Halak. The Calgary Flames were one of the teams interested, but his salary cap hit of $4.5 million would have required the Islanders to pick up a portion. The Boston Bruins might have kicked tires as well. The Islanders would have needed to receive a goalie in a deal for expansion draft purposes.
The Buffalo Sabres didn’t do anything. They had been hoping to trade pending free agent defensemen Dmitry Kulikov and Cody Franson.
Shane Doan will finish his career in Arizona. Doan had been willing to be traded, but he hasn’t been great this year and there weren’t many contenders interested. The San Jose Sharks had been interested in the past, but it’s not known if they talked to the Coyotes.
The Vegas Golden Knights have spoken with Gerard Gallant and Jack Capuano already and they may wait to see if there are any other coaching changes after the playoffs. Many think Gallant is the front-runner.
The Florida Panthers were looking at Radim Vrbata before they moved onto Thomas Vanek.
A few teams were interested in Ryan Miller as a backup. The San Jose Sharks might have been looking for a backup.
The Pittsburgh Penguins checked in on Kyle Quincey before the New Jersey Devils traded him to the Columbus Blue Jackets.
The Tampa Bay Lightning created salary cap space by trading Ben Bishop and Valtteri Filppula, and helped out their expansion plans as they now don’t have to protect Filppula.
