Snapshots: Pacioretty, Hoffman, Kase, Sweden

News broke yesterday that the Vegas Golden Knights have had trade discussions regarding Max Pacioretty and the hockey world, desperate for any news right now, exploded with potential scenarios. Fans of nearly every team in the league pictured the 30-goal scorer in their uniform, but Jesse Granger of The Athletic believes that the Golden Knights shouldn’t rush into anything. Though he lists Pacioretty alongside Jonathan Marchessault and Marc-Andre Fleury as three names Vegas has considered moving, he reasons that it would be a step in the wrong direction to trade the former Montreal Canadiens forward due to a lack of scoring throughout the roster.

Tucked away in the piece is another note, however, and that is the Golden Knights have had no communication with Mike Hoffman’s camp. The free agent sniper was listed as a potential target by Frank Seravalli of TSN when he broke the Pacioretty news yesterday, but it appears as though that may not be the case. The Golden Knights could obviously make contact if they do move a contract like Pacioretty’s $7MM cap hit, but time is running out for Hoffman to sign with a team before training camp starts in a few weeks.

• The Philadelphia Flyers have loaned David Kase to the Czech National Team for the upcoming Channel One Cup, which starts next week. Kase had been on loan with HC Karlovy Vary but will get a chance to compete for his country at the international tournament. At some point, the 23-year-old should be expected to return to North America to quarantine and then take part in NHL training camp, but given the tournament isn’t over until December 20, it won’t be for a little while.
• More bad news for the Swedish World Junior team as the goaltending coach has also tested positive for COVID-19, the fourth staff member in the last few days. At this point, anyone that has tested positive is not supposed to be allowed to travel to the bubble in Edmonton for the tournament, while others are not supposed to be added to the traveling party. That leaves Sweden without several key coaches, including head coach Tomas Monten and assistant Anton Lundberg. At this point, given that several players were also excluded due to positive tests, it’s not clear if Sweden will even be able to take part.