NHL Trade Rumors – 15 Dec 13

A connection between the Avalanche and Habs?

Speculations that the Montreal Canadiens are still scouting the Colorado Avalanche for a potential trade are still going strong. Last night at a Wild – Avalanche game in Colorado, the Montreal Canadiens had scouts observing the game. This goes with what was speculated earlier in the week by Denver Post, Adrian Dater that Montreal may have some players of interest on the Colorado team. That has fueled the trade rumors for Paul Statsny who is currently scoreless in his last nine games and a minus -7 to boot is not currently attractive to many teams looking to bolster their offense. The Habs have been scouting the Colorado Avalanche for quite a while now and the names that keep resurfacing are: Paul Stastny, John Mitchell et Jamie McGinn. Statsny a center at 205lbs would be a nice fit and bigger than the actual sizes of David Desharnais and Tomas Pleckaneck.

Are Habs scouting Statsny?

Rangers have players to sign or…trade

According to Larry Brooks from the NY Post, the Rangers will have to deal with the impending free agency of captain Ryan Callaghan and defenseman Dan Girardi. That is a priority for general manager Glen Sather come next summer. Brooks mentioned in his article that Sather will have to determine if they are going to sign the pair to contract extensions. Since neither has played extremely well this season, Sather will need to weigh whether or not he can afford to afford two lucrative contract extensions to the two underperformer. Brooks suggest that it may be wise to trade the pair by the March 5th trade deadline as rental players and obtain prospects and picks for the two. Since they haven’t won anything with these two in their ranks, the suggestion could make sense.

Editor’s Note: With the cap rising, expect Dan Girardi and Ryan Callaghan to stay and obtain contract extensions. Players such as Benoit Pouliot, Dominic Moore, Michael Del Zotto may be the one made available to other teams at the trading deadline.