Could the Red Wings make a run at John Tavares should he not re-sign with the Islanders next season? The Detroit Free Press’ Helene St. James thinks so. St. James answered a number of questions from readers, and one is if Tavares would be on Detroit’s radar should be hit the free agent market in 2018. While the Wings would certainly be a number of suitors for the gifted forward, Detroit would have to make some significant moves to free up cap space, which St. James also touches on. She writes that the Wings could move a number of players during the offseason, naming Jimmy Howard, Luke Glendening, Riley Sheahan, and Gustav Nyquist as possible targets.
In other news from around the league:
- The Wild are weighing the plan to lock up Mikael Granlund and Nino Niederreiter to long term deals writes the Pioneer Press’ Chad Graff. Minnesota general manager Chuck Fletcher cautions those pointing to the lack of playoff success from both players, saying, “You’ve got to make sure you read enough into it to know what you didn’t do right, but five games are five games. You’ve got to be a little bit careful. Sometimes guys can get hot; sometimes guys can get cold.” The Wild could go a number of ways on this. Graff reports that they may ink both to shorter deals or allow things to go to an arbitrator since both players are restricted free agents.
- Graff also writes about Wild netminder Devan Dubnyk, who posted great numbers in the playoffs (1.86 GAA, .925 save percentage) but didn’t get the goal support. Fletcher believes that it wasn’t at all on Dubnyk, who struggled a bit to end the season. Instead, he points to Blues goalie Jake Allen, who played out of his mind during the series. Additionally, Fletcher said that it boiled down to the Wild not cashing in on their scoring chances, which included point blank shots.
Do not put any faith in what Helen St James has to say. She is a hack.
The Wild loss had nothing to do with Dubnyk and everything to do with Allen.