With the start of the regular season now less than a week away, Matt Duchene remains a member of the Avalanche and Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman suggested to 630 CHED in Edmonton (audio link) that things are currently pretty quiet on the trade front with Colorado. GM Joe Sakic has set a very high asking price and as of yet, no one has been willing to meet it so it appears there’s a good chance that this will drag out into the season. Friedman notes that Columbus remains very interested in Duchene’s services while a trio of Western teams, Edmonton, Anaheim, and Nashville have been in and out of talks at times as well. Duchene has two years left on his contract with a $6MM cap hit but aside from the Ducks, the other three teams all have the cap room to take him on without sending any money the other way.
More from the West:
- Ducks defensemen Hampus Lindholm and Sami Vatanen are progressing well from their respective offseason shoulder surgeries, head coach Randy Carlyle told Eric Stephens of the Orange County Register. Both players have been skating in recent days, albeit in non-contact jerseys. Both rearguards are expected to miss all of October but have set a target to return to Anaheim’s lineup on November 1st.
- While Alex Steen’s hand injury will keep him out for the first week of the regular season, Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that the issue isn’t expected to keep him out too long beyond that. Steen is going to be counted on to play a big role when he returns, especially with long-term injuries to center Patrik Berglund (out until December) and winger Robby Fabbri, whose season is over before it even started due to a torn ACL.
- The Canucks have not yet decided where to assign defenseman Olli Juolevi. His agent Markus Lehto told Rick Dhaliwal of News 1130 (Twitter link) that a team in Europe could be a possible landing spot. The OHL’s London Knights – where he has spent the past two seasons – seems to remain the likeliest destination for the 19-year-old for now.