The Oilers are among the teams that have inquired about the availability of Flyers winger Travis Konecny, reports Kurt Leavins of the Edmonton Journal. It’s expected that Edmonton will shop around to try to find a forward upgrade but fitting in Konecny’s contract, one that has two years left on it at $5.5MM, would be tricky given their own cap situation. The 26-year-old tied his career high in points this season with 61 despite missing 22 games down the stretch due to an upper-body injury. With Philadelphia appearing to be heading for a rebuild, it stands to reason that GM Daniel Briere will be fielding plenty of calls about his leading scorer in the coming weeks.
Elsewhere in the East:
- Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli suggests that Sabres center Tyson Jost’s arbitration eligibility could be problematic for Buffalo this offseason. The 25-year-old was claimed off waivers back in November and is owed a $2.25MM qualifying offer. However, Seravalli points out that Jost’s career numbers are similar to Andrew Copp’s two years ago and the former Winnipeg forward was awarded a $3.64MM AAV in a hearing. Such a price tag for Jost would be difficult to justify which makes him a decent non-tender candidate if a deal can’t be reached before the deadline at the end of the month.
- MLive’s Ansar Khan examines some coaching candidates for Detroit’s AHL vacancy. ECHL Toledo head coach Dan Watson has been considered a logical choice for a while but Red Wings head coach Derek Lalonde indicated that Watson’s family situation is a strong tie for him to stay at that level. Red Wings assistant Alex Tanguay has never run a bench before so the opening could be an opportunity for him to get his feet wet in that role while Khan suggests that another Detroit assistant, Jay Varady, could also be a strong candidate and has a head coaching background at lower levels in the past. The top position with Grand Rapids has been open for nearly two months now.