NHL Rumors: Columbus Blue Jackets confident about signing Pierre-Luc Dubois, Bruins PTO candidates, and realignment
Anthony Scultore
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The latest edition of NHL rumors kicks us off with another prominent RFA not named Mathew Barzal. Columbus Blue Jackets GM, Jarmo Kekalainen was on Sirius XM NHL Network Radio to talk about Pierre-Luc Dubois.
NHL Rumors: Latest on Pierre-Luc Dubois
When asked if Blue Jackets fans should be worried about not signing him, Jarmo said calmly, “I wouldn’t be worried at all.”
“I am confident that we will have Pierre-Luc Dubois under contract before the first day of training camp,” Kekalainen said. The GM explained that these things take time but they fully expect to get this done.
NHL Rumors: Bruins may offer PTO’s to veteran defensemen
Boston Hockey Now is speculating that the Bruins will look at offering PTO’s to defensemen. After losing Torey Krug and the uncertainty around Zdeno Chara, they will be looking at the avenue.
One defenseman suggested is former Canadiens rearguard Karl Alzner. There is also the possibility that the team goes the trade route as there’s been some rumors connecting them to the Flames’ Noah Hanifin.
NHL Realignment Rumors
Recently we noted the latest realigned NHL divisions. There is now talks that it will change again. Let’s quickly review:
US1: BOS, BUF, NJ, NYI, NYR, PHI, PIT, WAS
US2: CAR, CBJ, DET, CHI, FL, MIN, NSH, TB
US3: ANA, AZ, CO, DAL, LA, SJ, STL, VGK
CAN1: MTL, VAN, CGY, WPG, TOR, EDM, OTT
The three teams not finalized are in US2 and US3. There is talks about where St. Louis will play. I stated they should be in US2 and Nashville moved to US3. However, the rumor has it Minnesota would be moved to US3 (in essence the Pacific).