While the Coyotes and center Martin Hanzal had engaged in contract extension discussions earlier this season (and remains open to re-signing), he has yet to receive an offer from the team, he told Sarah McLellan of the Arizona Republic.
“When I get an offer, I’ll see. I haven’t got an offer yet from the Coyotes. We haven’t talked.”
“Obviously, we’re getting closer and closer (to the trade deadline). So it’s going to be interesting, and I don’t know if they want to move me or not. I have no expectations. I’ll focus on the hockey games and see what happens.”
Hanzal is slated to become an unrestricted free agent in July and with Arizona well out of the playoff picture, they’re likely to either sign him or trade him by the March 1st deadline. GM John Chayka’s asking price is known to be quite high with a first round pick plus a quality NHL-ready younger among the elements he’s seeking in a trade.
Elsewhere around the league:
- One team that is likely to be quiet at the deadline is the Washington Capitals, suggests Isabelle Khurshudyan of the Washington Post. The offseason additions of Lars Eller and Brett Connolly have deepened their forward group so there’s no pressing need to add some depth there like they did last season with Daniel Winnik. Khurshudyan notes that the team could add some more depth on the back end, which we also identified as their top need heading into March in our Deadline Primer.
- The Panthers are granting teams permission to speak with former bench boss Gerard Gallant, reports Harvey Fialkov of the Sun-Sentinel (Twitter link). Gallant has two years left on his contract with the team after being surprisingly let go back in late November. With Claude Julien now off the market, it will be interesting to see if interest picks up in Gallant. If another team does hire him, they won’t owe Florida any compensation as the rule that permitted draft pick compensation was scrapped back in January of 2016.
- After missing Sunday’s game against Minnesota with an ankle injury, Detroit winger Thomas Vanek returned to practice today and is hopeful he’ll be ready to play tomorrow night against St. Louis, notes MLive’s Ansar Khan. Vanek is having a solid bounce back season after being bought out by the Wild in the summer with 14 goals and 22 assists in 43 games and is widely expected to be one of the more sought after rental players in the coming weeks. However, he suggested that he’s open to sticking around as well: “Could I see myself staying here? Yeah, that would be great but again, it’s a business.”