The all-star reporter panel at TSN comprised of Darren Dreger, Bob McKenzie and Pierre LeBrun took to the air again today with their latest segment of Insider Trading. They touched on both Claude Julien and Ken Hitchcock, two of the big coaching names that have been fired recently, saying both will likely wait until the summer to take another job. McKenzie said that Hitchcock would consider a move to a long-term situation if he finds a fit, but wouldn’t “come out of the bullpen” so to speak.
It will be interesting to see what this means for the Vegas club, which now has a very established list of coaches to try to bring in if they choose to go that way. It’s been said before that Vegas likely wants a big presence for their first coach to try and make a splash in the market, and it’s not clear if Julien, Hitchcock or even Gerard Gallant would fit that mold.
- LeBrun insisted again that the Chicago Blackhawks sound like they’ll be very quiet at the deadline this year because of their cap issues. As much as Stan Bowman keeps saying that the Hawks won’t make another bold move at the deadline, it’s hard to believe that they won’t try to make at least a slight upgrade for another run. They still need help on the wing and remember that they do have three extra (albeit late round) draft picks for this season in hand.
- The Vancouver Canucks are falling out of the picture after a successful middle stretch of the season, and will now start to field questions for their top players. McKenzie relates that even though GM Jim Benning said prior to the season that he would not ask any players to waive their no-trade clauses, he now admits that he would got to them with options if teams were calling on them. Goaltender Ryan Miller and forward Alex Burrows were mentioned specifically, but remember that Alex Edler and Brandon Sutter also have NTCs and would bring back solid returns in trade should the Canucks decide to completely tear it down.
- After the Jets got some terrible news on the defensive front with Tyler Myers undergoing another surgery, Dreger says they’ll be hard pressed to find a replacement. GM Kevin Cheveldayoff had already been looking around for some depth on the blueline, and now has even more problems to try and fix. It will be interesting to see where the Jets are in another two weeks and whether they need to add to try and make a deep playoff push or sell off some expiring assets.
- LeBrun does also mention the past reports that the Ottawa Senators kicked the tires on both Matt Duchene and Gabriel Landeskog, but says that it didn’t get very far. Ottawa isn’t willing to part with the kind of package that the Avalanche are currently asking for, though would be open to negotiation should it fall. Both Avalanche forwards seem like tough bets to move in-season, but if the team is committed to shaking up the core, Ottawa could come back to the table in the summer.