National Post’s Traikos suggests that the Red Wings, Senators and Sabres might leapfrog Boston, links Palat to Detroit

The National Post’s Michael Traikos is a Toronto-based columnist, so he has a good feel for the Maple Leafs’ Atlantic Division rivals. Traikos suggests that three up-and-coming teams–the Red Wings, Senators and Sabres–are probably going to be very aggressive in the free agency marketplace (starting on July 13th) in order to make up the ground on the Beasts of the Atlantic:

Forget about Toronto. Or Edmonton. Or any of the favourites to win the Stanley Cup.

After acquiring Alex DeBrincat from Chicago in a trade for Ottawa’s seventh-overall pick, the word coming out of the last week’s draft was that the Senators were also lining up to try to sign Claude Giroux to feed passes to the two-time 40-goal scorer. 

Detroit, which traded for St. Louis goalie Ville Husso, is now reportedly looking at Tampa Bay pending free agent winger Ondrej Palat, whom GM Steve Yzerman and new head coach Derek Lalonde both know well from their time with the Lightning.

New Jersey, which traded for Washington goalie Vitek Vanecek, and Philadelphia, which traded for Carolina defenceman Tony DeAngelo, are both reportedly trying to pry Johnny Gaudreau out of Calgary. If that doesn’t materialize, both will probably turn their attention to Nazem Kadri. Or Evander Kane.

And though they might not be considered the frontrunners, expect Buffalo, which had a trade in place for Ottawa’s Matt Murray, to join the bidding war for goaltenders Darcy Kuemper and Jack Campbell.

Between the Montreal Canadiens’ struggles and the fact that the Boston Bruins are in flux, Traikos believes that one of the Wings, Sabres or Senators could attempt to usurp a playoff spot as Toronto, Tampa Bay and Florida battle for Eastern Conference supremacy while facing salary cap issues. He says this about the Red Wings’ potential:

The same potential [displayed by Buffalo] exists in Detroit, where Calder Trophy winner Moritz Seider headlines a young, up-coming team that arguably has the best goalie tandem of any team in the East, and could finally be getting some structured coaching from Lalonde, as well as former Sharks head coach Bob Boughner. If they can add the versatility of Palat, maybe that pushes them into contender status.

Continued; this is the first I’ve heard of the Red Wings being linked to Palat, and I’m not sure whether he’s got any interest in joining the Wings at 31, but he’d be a great “add.”