Decision time on Duchene and Stone nearing
Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun: January 1st is getting closer and the focus will be shifting to what the Ottawa Senators will do with pending unrestricted free agents Matt Duchene and Mark Stone before the trade deadline. Ryan Dzingel is another pending UFA.
The Senators and Duchene’s agent Pat Brisson have already held contract extension talks.
Contract talks with Stone’s agent can officially get underway on January 1st.
The Sens want to re-sign both, and they both know how the Senators are planning on going forward with the team.
“We don’t need to worry about the financial considerations of this franchise,” Dorion said on Dec. 2. “We have the full backing of Mr. Melnyk to sign both of these players. It’s our goal to sign both of these players and, hopefully, the next time we talk about it is when we’re going to announce a contract.”
Blackhawks not getting much trade interest for a defenseman
Mark Lazerus of The Athletic: Chicago Blackhawks head coach Jeremy Colliton sat down with Brandon Manning a couple weeks ago and down him that he wouldn’t be playing nearly as much as he had, if at all.
The 28-year old Manning carries a $2.25 million cap hit through next season and is now a healthy scratch.
The Blackhawks have already sent a note to teams letting them know that he is available for trade according to sources.
Manning chose to sign with the Blackhawks this past offseason instead with another team. He hasn’t asked for a trade.
A source said that there hasn’t been much interest in Manning and they would likely need to retain salary to move him.
“I’ve never been a guy, when things go sideways or things aren’t going well, to call my agent,” he said. “Look, obviously I want to be playing. But you hear the rumors, and even with (Rutta) gone now, you’ve still got (Brandon) Davidson and you’ve still got Joki.
I want to play every day. So if I’m not going to get that here, and if there’s an opportunity somewhere else, you probably look at those different avenues. But like you said, I’ve got a two-year contract, so I’m not the guy knocking on the door asking to get out of here and asking why I’m not playing every day. I try to be mature about it and understand it.”
