Teams looking to add center help this summer might want to keep their eye on Columbus. Aaron Portzline of The Athletic speculates (subscription link) that with the likelihood of the Blue Jackets landing a top center in this summer’s draft and the expected signing of prospect Dmitri Voronkov, the team might be willing to part with Jack Roslovic. The 26-year-old has struggled with consistency this season but has once again reached the 40-point mark, pocketing nine goals and 31 assists through 68 games so far. He has one year left on his contract with a $4MM cap hit so there wouldn’t be a long-term commitment for acquiring teams to worry about. If Columbus was willing to use one of their three retention slots to lower that cap charge, they could land a quality prospect or pick if they were to move on from Roslovic in the coming months.
Elsewhere in the East:
- Canadiens defenseman Jordan Harris confirmed to reporters including Arpon Basu of The Athletic (Twitter link) that he will return to the lineup tonight against Columbus. The 22-year-old has missed the last two weeks with a lower-body injury. Harris has 15 points in 60 games in his rookie campaign while averaging 18:34 per contest on a young Montreal back end. He’ll take the place of Chris Wideman in the lineup.
- Senators winger Mathieu Joseph has returned to practice but has been ruled out of at least the next two games, notes Postmedia’s Ken Warren. The 26-year-old has been dealing with an upper-body injury for the last two weeks. This season hasn’t gone great for Joseph; after scoring four goals in 11 games after being acquired last year at the deadline, he has just three tallies in 47 contests so far this season.
- Still with the Senators, head coach D.J. Smith told TSN 1200 (Twitter link) that center Ridly Greig is out for the rest of the season with a sternum injury. The 20-year-old was recalled earlier this month but got into just five games before suffering the injury. Greig’s first professional campaign comes to an end with a goal and five assists in 16 NHL contests plus 13 goals and 14 helpers in 35 contests with AHL Belleville.