TSN’s Hockey Insiders on trade talk surrounding the Vancouver winger, the struggling Winnipeg Jets, Laurent Brossoit available by trade, what an NHL return would look like for Alex Formenton, Olympic rink issues, and Olympic roster reveal dates.
James Duthie: Gentlemen, in a season so far almost completely void of trades and substantial trade talk, Kiefer Sherwood and the Canucks sort of stand in the spotlight as the most likely to happen. And plenty of interest out there, Pierre?
Pierre LeBrun: Lots of interest is the way it was described to me, James. No surprise. And you got a player here with a $1.5 million cap hit. A style of play that screams playoffs and of course, consistent production. So lots of teams checking in. Now the question is how many want to check in again and again and make something happen. Among the teams that have showed interest, the Minnesota Wild, they were looking for a top six upgrade. They’ve checked in. I’m told Montreal and Dallas are also among a long list of teams that at the very least have kicked tires. But again, that’s a long list of teams. Now, Vancouver is not rushing into this, I’m told. They want to get a full picture of what the market looks like. But what will be interesting to me is, are some of these teams who go more serious in these talks willing to sign Sherwood as part of this to make the value greater for Vancouver? We’ll see if that happens or not.
Duthie: Winnipeg may have to start checking in on some guys somewhere. They’ve lost five of six, sixth in the central right now. What’s gone wrong, Dregs, and how do they sort it out?
Darren Dreger: Well, lots of people want to point to goaltending, and that isn’t the case. I mean, obviously, when you’ve got an elite goaltender like Connor Hellebuyck at your availability, he can mask a lot of defensive issues. But really that’s what it boils down to of late in terms of how the Winnipeg Jets are playing. Too many breakdowns in the defensive zone, too much time there, too much energy, which takes away from their offensive push. So there is no quick fix here. There’s no trade that’s going to help this. What may help it is a players only meeting, which they had after a humbling loss Monday to the Buffalo Sabres in Buffalo to re-establish that commitment to playing better defence, the identity of the Winnipeg Jets.
Chris Johnston: Now, the Jets may not be in the market for a goaltender, but anyone that is will be looking at a former Jet, and that is Laurent Brossoit, who is on the verge of getting ready to resume his NHL career. He’s coming off a double hip surgery, and he’s been assigned to the Rockford Ice Hogs on an AHL conditioning stint. That’s the next step in his recovery. Now, he’s under contract with the Chicago Blackhawks, but they have two goaltenders ahead of him in Spencer Knight and Arvid Soderblom. Brossoit’s agent Ray Petkau has been given permission to speak to other teams to see if there’s interest. There certainly is some out there. They’ll be watching how he makes out in his return to the AHL and he will be a goalie that’s available in the near future.
Duthie: The deadline for restricted free agents to sign and play in the NHL this year was Monday. So it’s passed. Where does that leave Alex Formenton who of course hasn’t played in a while and will not play again for the Ottawa Senators who own his rights?
Dreger: Yeah, he remains property of the Ottawa Senators. As we know, Steve Staios, the GM of the Sens has been open to the possibility of trading Formenton’s rights, but the interest just hasn’t been there. So what Alex Formenton has to do is start playing better in the Swiss league in Europe, and if he does that, perhaps there is opportunity to trade those rights at some point in the offseason. The most likely scenario though here, fellas, is that an offer sheet is signed by Alex Formenton. If he signs for less than $1 million, then there’s no compensation going to the Senators, but that’s fine. Ottawa at that point would be willing to move away.
Duthie: CJ, we’ve been talking for weeks about concerns over whether the rink will be ready in Milan for the Olympic Games in February, but the concerns aren’t just about whether it will be ready now, it’s what it will look like when it is ready.
Johnston: Yeah, that’s right. I mean, at this point, the dimensions, it does not sound like, will be exactly to NHL spec. And what I think is most interesting about this development is that it caught the NHL, or at least some people there, by surprise. And, you know, basically what I’ve been told is that the International Ice Hockey Federation approved a rink size of 60 meters by 26. That’s a little bit more than three feet short of a typical 200 foot length on an arena. And that’s significant. I mean, look, the takeaway from the Four Nations tournament earlier this year was that there was no space out there. With how fast and skilled these guys are, there wasn’t a lot of room to maneuver. And so at least at this stage, we’ll have to see if there’s any chance to change it or what might develop out of this. But it does sound as though the main rink in Milan is currently not as long as a typical NHL building.
LeBrun: And CJ, while the most maligned rink in hockey history continues to get lots of conversation, obviously, we’re four weeks to the December 31st roster deadlines for all the countries. And still no final plan on roster reveals, which of course will be intriguing to a lot of hockey fans. And part of that is that you got the NHL, the NHLPA, the IOC, the IIHF, the national federations, a lot of chefs in the kitchen here as far as coming up with a plan. Team Canada right now is looking at either December 31st, the day of the deadline, or January 1st for their roster reveal. Team USA is looking at the first couple of days of January and all the other countries are probably waiting for the World Juniors to be over and delay their roster reveal anywhere from the 6th to the 8th of January.
