Atlantic Notes: Sheahan, Ullmark, Lightning, Galchenyuk

While many are keeping an eye on Detroit’s pending unrestricted free agents as potential players to be moved as rentals by Wednesday’s trade deadline, center Riley Sheahan is drawing some interest from Toronto, reports Sportsnet’s Nick Kypreos (video link).  It’s not entirely surprising that the Leafs have some interest as head coach Mike Babcock is certainly familiar with Sheahan from his days behind Detroit’s bench.

To say that Sheahan has underachieved this season would be a big understatement.  Through 58 games, the 25 year old is still looking for his first goal while he has collected just nine assists.  Needless to say, the Wings would be selling low if they were to move Sheahan and there’s no indication they’re willing to do so just yet.  The center has one year left on his contract after this one with a cap hit of $2.075MM.

More from the Atlantic Division:

• The Sabres announced that they have recalled goaltender Linus Ullmark from Rochester of the AHL. It’s the fifth time this season that Buffalo has summoned him but he has yet to see NHL action so far.  At the minor league level, he has a 20-20-2 record with a 2.90 GAA and a .910 SV% in 42 appearances.  It’s believed he’ll dress as the backup in place of Robin Lehner who was shaken up against the Avalanche on Saturday.
• A trio of young Tampa Bay forwards in Vladislav Namestnikov, J.T. Brown, and Cedric Paquette are all wild cards heading into the deadline for the Lightning, suggests Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times. He notes that all three are unlikely to be protected for June’s expansion draft as things stand and as a result, GM Steve Yzerman could elect to move one to avoid the possibility of losing that player for nothing to Vegas.  Doing so would also free up a bit more money for next season as each player is already under contract for 2017-18 and every dollar will count for Tampa in the offseason with key players such as forwards Jonathan Drouin, Tyler Johnson, and Ondrej Palat all needing new deals.
• One player who is likely to benefit from Montreal’s recent coaching change is center Alex Galchenyuk, Fluto Shinzawa of the Boston Globe opines. The scribe notes how new head coach Claude Julien was able to improve the defensive game of several Bruins forwards and if he can do the same here, the youngster should have a chance to play more down the stretch.  Despite being second on the Canadiens in points per game, Galchenyuk has actually seen his ice time cut compared to the last two seasons, in part due to his struggles at the defensive end.  The 23 year old is slated to be a restricted free agent with arbitration eligibility in the offseason and will likely seek a long-term deal, a strong finish to the year would go a long way towards landing that contract.