Snapshots: Wild, Senators UFA Talks, Islanders Dangling Picks

While Minnesota has been heavily discussed in trade speculation dating back to the pre-expansion roster freeze, GM Chuck Fletcher told TSN’s Pierre LeBrun (Twitter link) that there is nothing imminent on the trade front.

Even with the Expansion Draft having passed, there have been plenty of suggestions that the Wild would still look to move one of their blueliners and that while Jonas Brodin is the most sought after, the one that would be more likely to go is Marco Scandella.  Friday, Michael Russo of the Star-Tribune suggested via Twitter that the asking price for Scandella was a package that included a first round pick.

Fletcher also noted to LeBrun that he doesn’t foresee there being any cap issues with the roster they currently have.  That alone is intriguing as the team already has $61.5MM committed for next season to 15 players per CapFriendly with Mikael Granlund and Nino Niederreiter both in line to land big deals this summer.

Elsewhere around the league:

• Senators GM Pierre Dorion plans to speak to the agents for pending unrestricted free agents Mike Condon, Tommy Wingels, Tom Pyatt, and Viktor Stalberg this weekend to see if they can reach a deal before the negotiation window opens up, notes Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun. The scribe adds that progress had been made with several of the UFAs before talks were put on the backburner for the Expansion Draft. Dorion indicated to Garrioch that the team is comfortable with Andrew Hammond as their backup goaltender next season if they’re unable to come to terms with Condon on a new deal.  On top of dealing with those free agents, Dorion is hopeful to get talks started with pending RFA Jean-Gabriel Pageau soon.
• After adding several high draft picks in the trade of Travis Hamonic to Calgary, Islanders GM Garth Snow acknowledged to reporters, including Puck Daddy’s Greg Wyshynski, that he is “100 percent” looking to move those picks for another established talent though he noted that he doesn’t expect anything to happen in the next coming days. Captain John Tavares is entering the final year of his contract in 2017-18 and is believed to be waiting to see what the team looks like for next season before deciding on whether or not to sign an extension.  Snow has already added some scoring help on the wing with the acquisition of Jordan Eberle earlier this week and another big addition up front would give the Isles a much stronger attack.