San Jose poised to sell at the trade deadline…
Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News: As the San Jose season has spiraled to the point of no return, Doug Wilson has little choice to admit defeat and potentially sell off a few parts at this year’s trade deadline.
There are other candidates but two make the biggest sense. Those would be unrestricted free agents’ Melker Karlsson and Brenden Dillon. With San Jose’s looming cap problems, one or both will likely become unaffordable. After that, it would take a more lucrative trade offer for Wilson to consider trading anyone else.
Vegas Golden Knights looking for a defenseman…
Jesse Granger of The Athletic: Vegas finds themselves looking for a defenseman even though they limit the amount of time in their zone well. They have allowed 3.88 goals per game over their last eight contests. Even Nate Schmidt has not bounced back from a knee injury which only exacerbates the problem.
One problem is cap space. Vegas has just $109,629 of it. Vegas could trade away Cody Eakin, Ryan Reaves, or Nick Holden to free up some space. Tony DeAngelo and maybe even Sami Vatanen are viable possibilities. Some in New Jersey dispute the Vatanen claim but Alec Martinez and Brendan Dillon are also available. Even Jake Gardiner could be a name Vegas looks at.
Pittsburgh Penguins just keep on contending plus more notes
Chris Johnston of Sportsnet: No matter how many man-games lost to injury they have, the Pittsburgh Penguins find ways to contend. This is a team that went 18-6-4 without Sidney Crosby. With $30 million at one point of cap space on the injury list, Jim Rutherford has some space to work with.
It helps that the emergence of Tristan Jarry coincided perfectly in all of this along with Bryan Rust. Rutherford dangling Alex Galchenyuk on the trade market already is a sign that Pittsburgh is one serious contender.
Anaheim and Chicago are teams that could take on sweeteners to make deals happen. Then, there is the Colorado Avalanche. They have $31 million in cap space and can add virtually anyone they want in a year with heightened expectations.