This was the last full week before the holiday roster freeze kicks in but there wasn’t a whole lot of activity. Here are the top five stories from a relatively quiet week around the league.
Dubinsky Out Six-To-Eight Weeks: The Blue Jackets will be without a core forward until sometime in the New Year as Brandon Dubinsky suffered a fractured orbital bone in a fight with Edmonton’s Zack Kassian and will miss the next six-to-eight weeks. GM Jarmo Kekalainen confirmed that the damage will not affect his long-term vision which is certainly good news. However, Dubinsky’s physical presence and faceoff prowess will undoubtedly be missed as Columbus continues to battle for top spot in the Metropolitan Division.
Red Wings Willing To Retain On Mrazek: 2017-18 hasn’t been a kind year for Detroit goaltender Petr Mrazek. His goals against average and save percentage are career-worsts by a considerable margin and as a result, he went from a possible timesharing role to being Jimmy Howard’s backup. With a qualifying offer of $4.15MM due in June, he’s a strong non-tender candidate. With that in mind, the Red Wings have indicated that they are willing to retain salary in a trade and there are reports that there is some lukewarm interest around the league even after Edmonton bowed out of trade discussions.
Karlsson Would Prefer To Stay In Ottawa: Following his comments earlier this month which intimated that he would be going to the highest bidder in free agency, Senators defenseman Erik Karlsson stated that his preference would be to remain in Ottawa. He’s still more than 18 months away from hitting unrestricted free agency but with a window opening up to sign an extension on the horizon (July 1st, 2018), there has already been plenty of speculation as to what it might cost to lock him up and if the Sens will have to move him if they’re unable to reach an agreement over risking losing him for nothing a year later.
Turris Comments On His Trade: From a current Senator to a former one, Predators center Kyle Turris raised some eyebrows when he commented publicly about his trade to Nashville. The deal came on the heels of extension negotiations and when the trade was made, he signed a seven-year pact with the Preds. Turris stated that it was his belief that the Senators GM Pierre Dorion wanted to get a deal done to keep him in Ottawa (a six-year offer was believed to be on the table) but owner Eugene Melnyk did not feel the same way. In the end, the trade has worked quite well for Nashville and Turris while Matt Duchene, who was acquired in the three-way swap, hasn’t fared as well for the struggling Sens.
Blues Seeking Top-Six Forward: On the heels of Jaden Schwartz’s injury that will keep him out for the considerable future, St. Louis is on the lookout to add a top-six forward to the mix with Buffalo’s Evander Kane among those that they have interest in. Adding another scorer has been something they’ve been looking for since Robby Fabbri tore his ACL before the season even got underway. However, with very limited cap space, they may have to get creative to make a move or at least match salaries going the other way.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Turris signed a 6-year extension with Nashville, not a 7-year deal