Ottawa Senators GM Bryan Murray has arrived in Las Vegas looking to make a deal.
The likeliest candidate at this point to be shipped off by Murray is young, more-potential-than-production netminder, Robin Lehner. Sure, Craig Anderson remains a possibility, especially after he played well again during the postseason, but the likelihood of a team offering up something of substance for a guy who recently turned 34 seems unlikely - "Lehner is the guy they want to move," a league executive told Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun Times on Monday.
Thus, Murray has a little pop-up shop set up in Vegas and he's selling Lehner.
Despite Lehner's frustrating NHL career to this point, according to the latest report, it sounds like Murray is likely to come out looking pretty good from whatever deal he agrees upon.
"The Senators would like to get a forward back in the deal but there's also talk around the league it could be expanded to include a defenseman," Garrioch reports.
Perhaps just as importantly as what they'll receive in return for Lehner's service, is what they may also be able to jettison as part of the pact.
"It's believed the contract of veteran David Legwand ($3 million next season) or Colin Greening (two years with a cap hit of $2.65 million) will be included in the trade," writes Garrioch. "The Dallas Stars, San Jose Sharks, St. Louis Blues and Calgary Flames are also looking for goaltending help."
Murray, of course, won't be the only NHL GM plying his netminding wares at the league meetings this week. Rangers GM Glen Sather is also dangling an enticing young goaltender with a bit more of an established track record of success than Lehner.
Reports have been all over the map as to just what current Rangers goaltender Cam Talbot is worth - some have suggested a first-round pick, others have suggested a second-round pick and a player. Talbot is four years older than Lehner, but appeared in 36 games last season for the Rangers and posted a 2.21 GAA and a.926 SV%.
Lehner, on the other hand, saw 25 games in 2014-15 before suffering a head injury and managed just a 3.02 GAA and a .905 SV%.
Of course, goalies often take time to develop the necessary mental toughness and consistency to compete at the NHL level, so it's very possible that Lehner could still become the player the Sens thought he could be when they drafted him in the second-round of the 2009 NHL Draft.
Per Garrioch, Murray has had "serious talk" with six or seven teams, mostly concerning Lehner, to this point. It sounds like the veteran GM is expecting the Vegas meetings to prove very fruitful on the trade front, especially as the draft looms, something which was echoed recently by TSN NHL Insider Pierre LeBrun.
"Certainly there's a lot of chatter," LeBrun said, while appearing on Edmonton's TSN 1260, via TodaysSlapShot.com. "Sometimes the chatter doesn't translate into actual transactions, but the level of chatter right now that I'm hearing is extremely volatile. It's extremely high. We'll see where it leads."
