On the Minnesota Wild …
Michael Russo: Forward Jason Zucker on being a restricted free agent: “That’s for much later down the road this summer.”
Chad Graff of The Athletic: Owner Craig Leipold on what he’s looking for in their next General Manager.
“What I want is a new set of eyes and take a look at where our strengths and our weaknesses are,” Leipold said. “Somebody that will come in that doesn’t feel an ownership to certain players, and I want someone to take a look at what we can do to tweak our team. This is not a rebuild. And I’ll be very direct about that when I’m interviewing a general manager.”
Paul Fenton could be the front-runner for the position. Sources saying that Fenton had interviewed for the position back in 2009 before Leipold hired Chuck Fletcher.
Other options could include Tom Fitzgerald, Martin Brodeur, Bill Guerin, Chris Pronger, Scott Mellanby, Brent Flahr, Julien BriseBois, Bill Zito, Norm Maciver, Dean Lombardi, Pierre McGuire.
On the St. Louis Blues …
Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic: (mailbag) Asked about the possibility for the Blues sending Jake Allen to the Philadelphia Flyers for ex-Blue Brian Elliott and then re-signing Carter Hutton to a two-year, $3 million (?) per year deal. It could be an option as the Flyers may be one of the teams that would take a flier on Allen. A Hutton-Elliott may not be the Blues solution in net though. Allen still has the potential to be a 1A and you may not have that with a Hutton-Elliott combo.
Can’t see a situation where the Anaheim Ducks would trade Ryan Getzlaf, nevermind to the Blues.
would not trade defenseman Colton Parayko. If they were to trade Parayko for someone like Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (readers suggestion), they would be creating another hole on their roster.
Paul Stastny could be the second best centers in the free agent market, so the Blues would have to consider the idea of bringing him back. The only way this may make sense is if he comes in cheap. They need an elite center and one with more offense and creativity.
Wouldn’t rule out the Blues interest in Ilya Kovalchuk, but would he consider the Blues. If Martin Brodeur remains with the organization, would think that their connection would help.
