Injuries and contract negotiations are among the factors cooling off the interest in some of the biggest names in the rumour mill as the NHL trade deadline quickly approaches. With one major exception.
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman said Saturday night during the 32 Thoughts segment of Hockey Night in Canada that the interest in three-time Stanley Cup champion goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury is heating up, even though he has a no-trade list.
“Fleury has a 10-team no-trade list, but that is irrelevant,” Friedman said. “I don’t think who is on his list and who is not on his list is going to matter here. I think it’s going to come down to this, whether it’s Colorado, whether it’s Toronto, whether it’s anyone like that: if Marc-Andre Fleury feels he has a chance to win and the team can make a deal with the Blackhawks, I think it’s purely going to be that decision. Does he feel he has a chance to win, wherever he goes?”
However, the news around the other big names on the trade board has cooled somewhat, falling in line with what Senators GM Pierre Dorion said earlier this week that this year’s trade deadline is the quietest he’s ever seen.
“Meanwhile in Philadelphia, one of the names we’ve been paying attention to for a while now is Claude Giroux,” Jeff Marek said during the same 32 Thoughts segment. “And we can report … it is a little bit quiet around Claude Giroux. There have been teams that have called, certainly. I don’t believe there have been big offers that have been made for Claude Giroux. He has a big week coming up. On Thursday, he’ll play game No. 1,000 as a member of the Philadelphia Flyers against the Nashville Predators – and after that, it is eyes to the trade deadline.”
Added Friedman: “Watch Colorado with Landeskog and Girard injured. I think that could open up the Avalanche to do some things.”
“Also, Tomas Hertl, at this time, his name is not out there,” Friedman said about the shifty Sharks centre. “The Sharks continue to work to sign him. I don’t want to handicap it, but I am told he is not available at this point in time.”
But the biggest bombshell might very well be the pulling back of Stars’ John Klingberg, who many considered as good as gone considering his drop down the Dallas roster and general high demand for puck-moving defencemen.
“John Klingberg of the Dallas Stars, there’s been a lot of talk all season long, could he be available?” Marek said. “At times he certainly was. We know the Carolina Hurricanes were interested, the Toronto Maple Leafs have looked at John Klingberg as well, but with Miro Heiskanen out now with mononucleosis, John Klingberg is more valuable to the Stars than ever before. Pretty safe to say we can take him off the trade board.”
Trade Rumours Roundup: The latest on Fleury, Giroux, Hertl, Klingberg
Source: Pinas Ko Mahal
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