The Columbus Blue Jackets have been rumored to be in discussions with the Vegas Golden Knights over a possible David Clarkson deal for some time, and today Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet again hinted at a possible trade between the two teams. The fact that Vegas might take on a bad contract is no surprise, but the potential return will shock many people. Friedman on Sportsnet 960:
Vegas is the epicenter of [all the trade talks]. I think they’re looking at a deal with Columbus, most likely for David Clarkson. They’ll get some nice pieces out of that, probably a first-round draft pick and maybe a prospect or two.
That would seem like an extremely high price to get Clarkson’s contract off the books, seeing as how he won’t even see the ice in Vegas as his injury has virtually retired him at this point. The Blue Jackets have already moved their second-round pick this season, so moving the #24 selection would mean they would be heading to the podium for their first selection at #86. That’s a long way down for any team to wait in a draft, even one with the solid young core that Columbus has built. Since Clarkson can be placed on LTIR when the season begins, the benefit for the Blue Jackets would be almost entirely in the offseason where they could spend more money re-signing their players and dabbling in free agency. If the salary cap stays flat, the team simply must move out some salary in order to retain Josh Anderson and Alexander Wennberg, both of whom are restricted free agents this summer.
- The deadline for requests to waive a no-movement clause has come and gone, and we only know for certain about a handful of players. Michael Russo of the Star Tribune and Ken Wiebe of the Winnipeg Sun both report that their respective teams will not announce whether they’ve asked Jason Pominville or Toby Enstrom to waive their clauses. Both players would be doing their team a great favor for the expansion draft if they did waive them, but many in the game believe that if you’ve worked hard enough to deserve one you shouldn’t be asked to waive it for any reason. Earlier today it was reported that Marc-Andre Fleury waived his clause back in February, giving the Penguins some certainty at the position but still playing some of his very best hockey in the playoffs for the club. We’ll find out who all waived their clauses when the protection lists come out on Sunday morning.
- The Carolina Hurricanes have promoted two scouts in their organization, naming Sheldon Ferguson head North American scout and Robert Kron head European scout. Both will remain under the purview of Tony MacDonald who will continue in his role as Director of Amateur Scouting. These promotions come at a time just before a very important draft for the Hurricanes in which they hold 10 picks. Recently, GM Ron Francis had admitted that he hopes to move some of the picks for players before the draft, but is content in using them if he can’t find the right deal. With four picks in the first two rounds, Carolina could easily move up in the draft as well should a targeted player drop far enough.