Seattle Kraken
Alexander Wennberg was held out of the morning skate and will not play for the Seattle Kraken at the Calgary Flames on Monday (9:30 p.m. ET; TVAS, SN1, SNW, ROOT-NW).
“He’s held out with some trade-related issues,” Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said. “He will not be available tonight.”
The center can become an unrestricted free agent July 1, and Seattle (26-23-11) is nine points behind the Nashville Predators for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference.
Wennberg, who has 25 points (nine goals, 16 assists) in 60 games this season, could be valuable for a contender because of his versatility. He plays on both special teams units for the Kraken.
Seattle has other pending UFAs who could be rentals for contenders, including defenseman Justin Schultz and forwards Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, Jordan Eberle and Tomas Tatar.
"Our focus is on exactly taking care of our own business,” Hakstol said. “What's talked about behind closed doors will remain there, but we're a pretty honest group. We talk about most things. But like I said, the focus is on the opportunities that we have to accomplish.
“You look at the last stretch here, you've got a couple teams that are on real hot runs, so even though we've played pretty good hockey we haven't been able to close that gap. That's where our focus is at is the opportunities that we have to change that picture a little bit here over the next couple of days."
Detroit Red Wings
Dylan Larkin is out two weeks because of a lower-body injury, Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde said Monday.
But the injury shouldn’t change Detroit’s approach ahead of the Trade Deadline.
It’s relatively short term, and the Red Wings (33-22-6) are tied with the Tampa Bay Lightning for the first wild card in the Eastern Conference, six points ahead of the New York Islanders.
Larkin, who is Detroit’s captain, leads the team in goals (26) and points (54). But the Red Wings have excellent scoring depth -- 12 players with double-digit goals -- and rank sixth in the NHL on offense (3.51 goals per game).
Detroit’s biggest issues are defense and possession; the Red Wings rank 21st on defense (3.20 goals against per game) and 29th in 5-on-5 shot-attempts percentage (46.2).
NHL.com independent correspondent Aaron Vickers contributed to this report
