The countdown to March 2 is underway and the biggest chip on the market remains Arizona Coyotes center Antoine Vermette, a pending free agent who is unlikely to remain in the desert. The Canadiens, Blackhawks, Rangers and Bruins have all shown different levels of interest, says Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun. With new majority owner in Andrew Barroway now on board, the Coyotes are “in definite sell mode,” writes ESPN.com’s Scott Burnside. According to Garrioch, another virtual lock to be dealt is defenseman Jeff Petry, who has had no success on reaching a long-term deal with the Edmonton Oilers. The Ducks, Penguins, Canadiens and Lightning are listed as candidates. The New York Rangers would love to land Petry, but GM Glen Sather has almost no salary cap room to work with, notes Pat Leonard of the New York Daily News. Who else could find a new home next week? Here's the latest update: • According to Josh Yohe of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, the Penguins are interested in re-acquiring center Jordan Staal. A move of that magnitude would require the Penguins to slash significant salary since they are less than $1 million under the $69 million salary cap. For his part, Stall tells the Tribune-Review he would be willing to waive his no-trade clause if it meant a return to Pittsburgh. • The Canes’ trade buzz has centered on pending unrestricted free agents such as defenseman Andrej Sekera and forward Jiri Tlusty, and GM Ron Francis has given no public indication a trade involving Staal is brewing, reports Chip Alexander of the News Observer. • The Boston Bruins may be willing to deal veterans Dennis Seidenberg and Loui Eriksson, but will not ask captain Zdeno Chara to waive his no-trade clause, according to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. Finding a taker for Chara is another thing entirely. “You would have to find a real sucker to take on his almost $7 million cap hit for the next three years,” opines Brett Cyrgalis of the New York Post. • One reason the New York Islanders are atop the Metropolitan Division in late February is the strong play of defenseman Johnny Boychuk, acquired in an October trade with Boston. While the Islanders have the cap space to keep the pending free agent, the “chatter persists” that Boychuk, an Edmonton native, might sign with the Oilers over the summer, says Larry Brooks of the New York Post. Just a thought, but a long playoff run by the Islanders could make him more inclined to stay in New York as the franchise prepares for a move to Brooklyn. • The Red Wings are not desperate to make a deal as the deadline approaches, says Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press. “Barring a string of bad luck such as injuries, the Wings could well look around and decide they're better off holding on to the young talent and draft picks it'd take to get involved in a shrinking market,” writes St. James. • The Red Wings would consider trading for Petry or the Coyotes' Zbynek Michalek at the right price, counters Kevin Allen of USA Today. • The odds of Curtis Glencross finding a new home picked up steam when the Calgary Flames asked him to submit a list of teams he would be willing to join. The Ducks are looking for a left wing, but the Flames may be reluctant to trade him to a team they may meet in the first round of the playoffs, says Randy Sportak of the Calgary Sun.
No, everyone says we dont need another 3rd pairing right shot defenseman so there's no point wasting assets on that. We already have the 3 right shot dmen set. This is the first I'm hearing of us linked to Petry and my guess we arent looking very hard, if at all.
Rather have Vermette. If I am going to pay a higher price I would focus on more than a 3rd pair rental dman (which is what Petry would be here). The way this is setting up I think the bigger chip has to be a forward. Then add some lesser depth on D to pair with Boyle. That's the plan to me. Still think Zona is our match.
All about value. And for what we will have to deal, we get way more value out of a Vermette than a 3rd pair dman. The dman should be the lesser chip IMO.
Ive been following the rumor mill very closely for awhile and this is the first time I'm hearing that we're on him. And my guess is we arent looking very hard, just gauging the rental market price. Trading for him would make zero sense.
And I just looked at the article, it doesnt even say we're interested. It recommends him as a target to add, like Brooks did with Kaleta and some of the other random names he threw out there. Petry is going to a team that needs a right shot from the blue line, which isnt us.
It also will come down to fitting under the cap. This is why they should have kept Malone and gave him a legit chance. If they do go with a Dman over a forward we will have no depth in the playoffs. Glass will come in if there is an injury....thats like playing 11 forwards AV seems like a tightwad to me....couldnt get over the fact that Malone parties like all of the other athletes with $$$ and didnt give him a legitimate shot
I was sc, but here is the issue. We have a rock solid top 4 D. That is locked in. So we are talking about a 3rd pair dman. And for a high return bang for our buck wise it does not make sense for us to make a 3rd pair rental dman our big add. From that POV it makes a forward the smarter add for us for the price. Just seems like simple logic I think.
And I call flatout BS cage. Have you looked at the Pens cap situation recently? Yet SOMEHOW they added Perron AND Winnik. The Kings found a way to add Sekera. Winnik has a 1.3 mill cap hit, clearly affordable, so stop the excuses for Sather. The guy better get something done by Monday...period.
You guys are forgetting the pro-rated nature of the cap hit. Winnik is a .161m cap hit for the Pens. Literally a 100k cap hit. The later in the year you get, the less a cap hit hurts you.
I get the feeling that Sather isn't gonna make any moves other than a small minor move. Too much happening with other teams and he doesn't seem willing to pull the trigger and get it done. Hopefully I'm wrong though. If not, Sather really has got to go.
Stop making sense Prod. We cannot afford it. The Pens can, worse cap situation than us, but we cannot...comical. And I agree 10000000% 94. Ridiculous if we do nothing. Sather should be fired on the spot at 3:01 Monday if we do nothing. He better beg Maloney to make a deal with him. They are in town, Maloney has been at a handful of our games, that is our match IMO. Get Dave to beg Don to help us out....
A Curtis Glencross to the Capitals is getting closer. He’s willing to waive his no-trade clause to go to Washington. The Capitals are not the only team that is looking to add Glencross, but looking like the front runner.
So Pens get Perron and Winnik (but have no cap space). Caps may get Glencross (have maybe 500 K more cap space than us). Good recipe for us to get to the ECF again if we do nothing. Plus side we have TWO 2nd round picks.
chuck, look at the bright side. We have all our picks and prospects to make a run in 4 years. Guys, Sather is looking at our record and saying to himself. Why in world would I make any changes, since we have the BEST record since December? He might add John Scott again though at the last minute just to make it look like he did something.
