As the NHL trade season has intensified Anders Bjork Jersey , Artemi Panarin of the Columbus Blue Jackets has been viewed as the top prize for teams in the market for a high-scoring winger.Panarin will be a free agent July 1, and he has shown he can put the puck in the net with his lightning-quick and accurate wrist shot. Panarin has scored 24 goals and leads the Blue Jackets with 67 points in 57 games.Panarin could also help Columbus make its own postseason run this year, with the team third in the Metropolitan Division and having justacquired high-scoring forward Matt Duchene in a trade with the Ottawa Senators.Bringing in Duchene indicates the Blue Jackets believe they can make a run in the postseason, but their playoff position is tenuous, with division rivals the Pittsburgh Penguins level on points with them in the wild-card spots and the ninth-place Carolina Hurricanes just a point behind them.The Duchene move indicates the team has belief in itself, and general manager Jarmo Kekalainen would likely have to receive a blockbuster offer to move Panarin.The Senators have two potential free agents this summer in forwards Mark Stone and Ryan Dzingel. Both players are putting the puck in the net with regularity, with 28 goals for Stone and 22 for Dzingel.The Senators have already moved Duchene, and Hockey Night in Canada insider Elliotte Friedman tweetedFriday that Stone and Dzingel have been put on the market.The Senators are in last place in the Eastern Conference with 49 points and have already picked up a 2019 first-round draft choice in the Duchene trade (and a conditional first-round choice in 2020). General manager Pierre Dorion could get another first-round pick for Stone, while Dzingel is more likely to bring in a second-round draft pick.Power forward Wayne Simmonds has been the subject of speculation since the start of the NHL's trade season. While they are 6-3-1 in their last 10 games, the Flyers are still eight points out of the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference and have lost their last two games.NHL insider Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic tweeted Thursday that the Flyers were looking at Thursday's game with the Montreal Canadiens and Saturday night's game with the Pittsburgh Penguins (outdoors at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia) before making their final decision on Simmonds.The Flyers dropped a 5-1 decision to Montreal, and while a victory over Pittsburgh would help their cause, they would still be quite a distance from the final playoff spot.Even reaching that final playoff position would put them on track to play the Tampa Bay Lightning, who have been the best regular-season team by a wide margin and are unlikely to be troubled by an eighth seed.LeBrun had identified the Lightning, Boston Bruins, Winnipeg Jets and Nashville Predators as the teams interested in Simmonds in early February.Mike Hoffman of the Florida Panthers, Gustav Nyquist of the Detroit Red Wings and Mats Zuccarello of the New York Rangers have also been mentioned as possible trade candidates. Craig Custance of The Athletic had that trio in the top 10 of players most likely to be moved prior to the deadline. LAS VEGAS (AP) Marc-Andre Fleury has been the foundation for the Vegas Golden Knights‘ run to the Stanley Cup Final.Yet while he has a 1.68 goals-against average and .947 save percentage Bobby Orr Jersey , he’ll be the first one in the locker room to credit the defensemen in front of him.”It’s a team game – win as a team, lose as a team,” said Fleury, who looks to become the 11th goaltender in NHL history to have his name on the Cup at least four times – and the fourth of that group to win with multiple teams.”These guys are a big part of our success. We’re well balanced, we got some veteran guys, some younger guys, got some offensive guys, some defensive guys playing together. Those guys have been rallying all playoffs, trying to help me out, blocking shots and letting me see the puck, so it’s been a lot of fun.”The pairings of Nate Schmidt and Brayden McNabb, Shea Theodore and Deryk Engelland, and Colin Miller with Luca Sbisa or Jon Merrill, have helped the Golden Knights become a very tight defensive team during the playoffs, something that will have to carry into Game 1 at T-Mobile Arena, on Monday against the Washington Capitals.Schmidt has developed into the team’s top defenseman after struggling to find consistent ice time in Washington last season http://www.officialbruinsproonline.com/authentic-adidas-brad-marchand-jersey , when he averaged 15:29 on the ice. The fifth-year pro leads the Golden Knights with an average 22:14 on the ice and brings a familiarity to the Final, having played with Washington’s top scorers Evgeny Kuznetsov (24 points) and Alex Ovechkin (22), who rank first and second, respectively, in overall playoff scoring.”I know a lot of those guys, I know what they like to do,” said Schmidt, who has six points (2 goals, 4 assists) in the postseason. ”For what I want to do on the ice, it helps me and I think it helps our group as well that we’ve had success against them. But it’s a whole other type of animal this time of year.”The Golden Knights swept the regular-season series against Washington, winning 3-0 on Dec. 23 in Vegas and 4-3 on Feb. 4 in D.C.With five more Capitals have double-digit points – Nicklas Backstrom (16), John Carlson (16), T.J. Oshie (15), Lars Eller (13) and Tom Wilson (11) – Vegas will need one last big effort from a defensive group that has helped allow the second-least number of goals among playoff teams that have played 10 games.Washington coach Barry Trotz said he knows the Golden Knights have three dynamic duos that each feature one offensive guy who can skate and move the puck – that being Miller, Theodore, and Schmidt – paired with more of a traditional stay-at-home defenseman who isn’t afraid to get physical Youth Brandon Carlo Jersey , block shots and slow the opposing team’s pace – such as Sbisa, Engelland, Merrill and McNabb.”But they still bring some offense, too,” Trotz said. ”They play 5-5-5 all three zones just as we talk about with the Capitals. Watch the TV, you see five guys in the picture, then you’re doing good.”Schmidt said using speed against them worked during the regular season, by moving their feet more than Washington did, and helping to develop plays in transition. But again, this is the Stanley Cup Final, and Schmidt said he knows Washington can skate well and will be a challenge.”I think another thing is just making sure you’re really disciplined against this team,” Schmidt said. ”You’ve got to make sure you stay out of the penalty box, keep Ovechkin off the power play and keep that unit off the power play.”To Vegas’ credit, however, it does have the fourth-best penalty kill in the playoffs, stopping 82.5 percent of the power plays it has seen. And Womens Charlie McAvoy Jersey , as Sbisa said, that circles back to Fleury and the chemistry that’s been built with the defensive pairings.”That bond is definitely there,” Sbisa said. ”You don’t have to worry about anything else, play it loose, play to your strengths and that’s what we’ve been doing as a group. The six Ds that are playing that night, they’re tight; we play as a three-man group (with Fleury). Flower’s a guy that doesn’t take too much credit for himself, even though he should, because he’s been that good and it’s obviously nice to hear stuff like that coming out of his mouth. But he definitely deserves all the credit here.”As a D-man, knowing that you have the best goalie in the world behind you, saving you when something happens, it makes a huge difference because it allows you to play your game. Praise has to go both ways.”