Welcome to the NHL Trade Buzz. There are six days remaining until the 2019 NHL Trade Deadline on Feb. 25 at 3 p.m. ET, and the buzz is picking up. The Ottawa Senators expect to know soon whether they will sign or trade forward Mark Stone.
Here’s a look around the League at the latest deadline doings:
Ottawa Senators
The Senators hope to know in the next 48 hours whether forward Mark Stone will sign a new contract with them, the Ottawa Sun reported.
Stone, Ottawa’s leading scorer with 61 points (28 goals, 33 assists), can become an unrestricted free agent July 1.
The Senators made him an offer last week, and his camp asked for time to think about it, the Sun reported.
If Stone decides to stay, the Senators will rebuild around him. If not, they will trade him for assets to use in their rebuild.
Center Matt Duchene, Ottawa’s second-leading scorer with 58 points (27 goals, 31 assists), and forward Ryan Dzingel, the Senators’ fourth-leading scorer with 44 points (22 goals, 22 assists), also are pending UFAs.
Duchene has decided not to sign a new contract with Ottawa and the Senators have decided to trade him, according to multiple reports.
“I haven’t thought about it much at all. I’m focused on the task at hand,” Duchene said after the Senators lost 8-7 to the Chicago Blackhawks at United Center on Monday. “If I’ve said it once I’ve said it a million times, it’s fun to come to work here every day and play with these guys. We have an outstanding group, probably the best group of guys, head to toe, I’ve ever played with. It’s easy to get lost in kind of that togetherness we have.”
The Winnipeg Free Press reported Monday that Senators general manager Pierre Dorion met with Winnipeg Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff in Cheveldayoff’s suite during the second intermission of an American Hockey League game between Milwaukee and Manitoba at Bell MTS Place in Winnipeg on Sunday. The meeting increases speculation in the Jets’ interest in Duchene, Dzingel and Stone.
Asked if he’ll be happy once there’s a resolution, one way or another, Duchene said, “Yes and no.”
“I’m kind of just taking it one day at a time,” Duchene said. “It’s either game day or it’s not. When it’s not, you look forward to the next game day. Simple as that.”
The Senators (22-32-5) have the worst record in the NHL and are 20 points behind the Montreal Canadiens for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference. Their next game is against the New Jersey Devils at Prudential Center on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; MSG+, RDS2, TSN5, NHL.TV).
Video: OTT@WPG: Stone nets PPG to open the scoring
Columbus Blue Jackets
Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella has said he wants his players looking up in the standings, not down.
But where is general manager Jarmo Kekalainen looking with the deadline approaching and goalie Sergei Bobrovsky and forward Artemi Panarin headed toward unrestricted free agency?
Columbus (33-22-3) is third in the Metropolitan Division with 69 points, four behind the second-place Washington Capitals. The Blue Jackets played the Capitals close in the Eastern Conference First Round last season; four of the six games went to overtime. They’re 3-1-0 against them this season. Wouldn’t home ice be nice in the first round this time?
But Columbus is also tied in points with the Pittsburgh Penguins, who hold the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference, and the Montreal Canadiens, who hold the second wild card.
What if the Blue Jackets end up in the second wild card spot and have to play the Tampa Bay Lightning? Tampa Bay (45-11-4) leads the NHL with 94 points, 15 more than anyone else, and defeated the Blue Jackets 5-1 at Nationwide Arena on Monday.
What if the Blue Jackets miss the playoffs altogether?
Kekalainen said last week he was more concerned with the return in a potential trade. Bobrovsky is a two-time winner of the Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s best goalie. Panarin is Columbus’ leading scorer with 67 points (24 goals, 43 assists).
“It’s more about the outcome of the whole deal — for now, the near future and into the more distant future,” he said. “That’s the deciding factor, not where we are in the standings.”
That said, it could get even more dicey before the deadline. Columbus visits the Canadiens at Bell Centre on Tuesday (7:30 p.m. ET, TSN2, RDS, FS-O, NHL.TV), plays at Ottawa on Friday and then is home against the San Jose Sharks on Saturday.
NHL.com staff writer Tracey Myers contributed to this report
[RELATED: NHL Trade Buzz: Potential trade between Senators, Jets gaining traction]
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