FanRag Sports’ Chris Nichols snagged a set of quotes from TSN’s Bob McKenzie, who spoke with Montreal’s TSN 690 this morning, and among McKenzie’s comments:
“I know Nashville – well, they’ve been watching a lot of teams and you don’t read too much into where guys go, but I think they’ve been checking the Detroit Red Wings out. Gustav Nyquist is a player who could become available. Tomas Tatar – I don’t think Detroit wants to trade Tatar; but again, they’re in a mode where they’re going to be rebuilding and they’re also looking to offload some contracts.
“So yeah, there’s a lot out there. Right now, I would say it’s a buyer’s market for those scoring wingers. But that can change in a hurry. And at the end of the day, whether you’re Montreal with Pacioretty or Hoffman with Ottawa, you’re not obliged to trade these guys so you’re not moving them unless you get top dollar on the return. And if the Preds aren’t going to pay top dollar for that, then maybe they’ll go a more bargain way with a rental or to get a guy like Nyquist out of Detroit.”
Nyquist has this season and next left on his contract at a $4.75 million hit, while Tatar has three more years beyond this one at $5.3 million.
Pacioretty has one more season after this one, and his cap hit is $4.5 million.
Nichols continues (as does McKenzie), and I wonder whether the Wings really are considering moving Nyquist and/or Tatar.
