NHL Rumors: St. Louis Blues, Pittsburgh Penguins, and the Washington Capitals

St. Louis Blues GM on the draft

Jeremy Rutherford: St. Louis Blues GM Doug Armstrong on the NHL draft: “There’s obviously some attractive players. My experience is, when you pick No. 10, there’s nine great guys. When you pick No. 16, there’s 15 great guys … so it’s just going to be fluctuating on who’s available whether we move up or back to gain an extra asset.

I don’t see us using that (No. 16) pick to improve our team today. With that being said, if it’s somebody in an age bracket that I see a longer-term vision, we would do that. … But I see it as a selection-type of a draft for us.”

Dan Kingerskit of Pittsburgh Hockey Now: Marcus Pettersson, like Sidney Crosby, is eligible for a contract extension after July 1st. Crosby for sure will get one, but what about Pettersson?

The 28-year-old is entering the last year of a five-year deal with a $4.05 million cap hit. It’s not easy to find a comparable for his next deal.

The Vegas Golden Knight last season had Brayden McNabb at $2.85 million, and Alec Martinez at $5.25 million. Nick Leddy comes in at $4 million, and Josh Manson at $4.5 million. Brenden Dillon’s $3.9 million is coming to an end. Matt Grezlcyk’s at $3.7 million, Joel Edmundson was at $3.5 million and Derek Forbort $3 million.

Pettersson could come in between $3.5 million and $5 million.

The Washington Capitals should be patient with their offense search

Sammi Silber of The Hockey News: Washington Capitals GM Brian MacLellan should be patient this offseason as they look for offense. They may gain some added cap flexibility if T.J. Oshie goes on the LTIR due to his chronic back issues.

With Alex Ovechkin still in town, the Capitals won’t be switching to a rebuild.

The trade market has had a few names emerge since the offseason started – Martin Necas, Mitch Marner, Nikolaj Ehlers, and Patrik Laine. The free agent market is topped by Sam Reinhart and Jake Guentzel.

Head coach Spencer Carbery has said that he wouldn’t mind some more size on the blue line.

Elliotte Friedman said that the Capitals could look to move goaltender Darcy Kuemper.