Snapshots: Simmonds, Palmieri, Coyotes

While Flyers winger Wayne Simmonds has been mentioned in trade speculation lately, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman cautioned on a radio appearance on Sportsnet 960 (audio link) that it’s unlikely at this point that he will be dealt.  For starters, he has been playing through an injury which certainly doesn’t help his value.  Friedman also notes that some teams believe that Philadelphia will do everything they can to avoid trading him which would make a move like that more of a last resort.

Simmonds is signed through next season at a very club-friendly $3.975MM cap hit (with a 12-team no-trade clause).  He’s bound to get a major raise on the open market and with the Flyers having Claude Giroux and Jakub Voracek on significant deals up front long-term, there’s no guarantee that the team will be able to afford to keep him around on a big-ticket contract as well which presents Philly with a case to move him before then.  Despite not being fully healthy, Simmonds is still off to a good start to his season with 18 points (10-8-18) through 29 games.

Elsewhere around the league:

• Devils winger Kyle Palmieri has resumed skating in recent days as he continues to recover from a broken foot, notes Andrew Gross of The Record. The injury was sustained on November 20th with a recovery timeline of four-to-six weeks so it appears he’ll have a chance to return to the lineup near the shorter end of that span.  When he has been healthy this season, Palmieri has been quite effective, notching five goals and four assists in 13 games.
• The Coyotes have flipped goaltending coaches between their NHL and AHL affiliates, reports Craig Morgan of Arizona Sports. Jon Elkin, who has been Arizona’s goalie coach since being hired in the summer of 2015, will now oversee their minor league netminders while Corey Schwab, a veteran of 147 career NHL appearances, takes over on the NHL side.