The Blue Jackets have reached out to representatives for winger James van Riemsdyk during this week’s interview period, notes Aaron Portzline of The Athletic (Twitter link). However, it appears that they’re not going to be able to land the 29-year-old. He’s coming off of a career year in goals with 36 despite playing less than 15 minutes per game and has scored at least 27 goals in four of the last five seasons. (The one year he didn’t was one where he had injury troubles but scored at a 29-goal pace.) Meanwhile, TSN’s Frank Seravalli reports that there are eight teams still in the mix for van Riemsdyk but that his previous team, Toronto, is not believed to be among them.
Other notes from unrestricted free agency:
- The Canucks spoke with winger Tobias Rieder’s agent today, reports Sportsnet 650’s Rick Dhaliwal (via Twitter). The two sides are expected to speak later as well. Rieder went unqualified by the Kings on Monday and he has interest from roughly half a dozen teams around the league.
- There appears to be mutual interest between the Oilers and winger Jason Chimera, reports TSN’s Ryan Rishaug (Twitter link). The 39-year-old is from Edmonton and with the team having limited cap space this summer, they’re going to be shopping for bargain deals. Chimera is coming off of a quiet year split between the Islanders and Ducks where he scored just three times but he put up 20 goals in each of the previous two seasons.
- Center Kyle Brodziak is expected to narrow his list of teams he’s considering down to three later today, Sportsnet’s Mark Spector tweets. He adds the Oilers could very well be the favorite to land him which bring things full circle for the 34-year-old, who was drafted in the seventh round by Edmonton back in 2003. Brodziak is coming off his best offensive performance (33 points) since 2011-12.
- Vegas has yet to make defenseman Luca Sbisa an offer, his agent told Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic (Twitter link). He had an injury-riddled campaign that saw him play in just 30 regular season games although he still managed to put up 14 points, his highest total in six years. He was a regular for the most part during the Golden Knights’ run to the Stanley Cup Final but it appears he will be playing elsewhere in 2018-19.
The Jackets need help down the middle. They’d be smart to sign JVR and flip Panarin on the condition that whichever team takes him has to take on Dubinsky’s contract too. Afterwards they should focus on re-signing Ian Cole. Just imo anyways.
why would you lower the return for Panarin just so you can include Dubinsky. plus if you need centre help why trade a centre?
“They need help down the middle”…so they should sign a winger and trade away a center (and their top forward).