Atlantic Notes: Anderson, Bruins, Larsson

With the Senators being committed to Anders Nilsson for another season after this one and having multiple young goaltenders in the pipeline that could benefit from some NHL playing time, some expect Ottawa to try and move veteran netminder Craig Anderson.  With that in mind, Postmedia’s Ken Warren suggests that the Panthers could be a team to watch for as a possible trade suitor.

Anderson’s family resides in the area which would certainly be attractive for him while he also spent some time early in his career with Florida.  However, the on-ice fit could make some sense as well with the team currently using Chris Driedger, a 25-year-old with just six NHL appearances under his belt, as the backup to Sergei Bobrovsky.  A veteran like Anderson would certainly give them a capable insurance policy.

The salary cap could make things complicated, however.  Per CapFriendly, Florida has less than $1MM at the moment and while that amount would go up by sending Driedger back down, it still wouldn’t be enough to bring Anderson and his $4.75MM AAV in, even if Ottawa retained half.  As a result, while the fit makes sense, it may have to be a move that gets made closer to the deadline in order to make the money work.

More from the Atlantic Division:

• Monday’s game was a tough one on the injury front for Boston with defensemen Charlie McAvoy and Torey Krug going down. NBC Sports Boston’s Joe Haggerty notes that the early reports on McAvoy seem to be positive but Krug’s status is not yet known.  The good news for the Bruins is that captain Zdeno Chara is expected to be available on Friday after missing last night following a procedure on his jaw.
• The Sabres expect to have center Johan Larsson back in their lineup for their next game on Friday, reports Lance Lysowski of The Buffalo News. He suffered an undisclosed injury back on Thursday against Philadelphia.  As a result, Lysowski suggests that Buffalo won’t need to call back Curtis Lazar who was among the players sent down immediately following final games before the holiday break.