(The Blue Jackets are enjoying success) while carrying several bad contracts. They are paying Scott Hartnell $4.75 million annually to be their fourth-line left wing. Brandon Dubinsky is their No. 2 center, but the ex-Ranger, due $5.85 million per year through 2021, does not look like a good long-term bet.

David Clarkson is on long-term injured reserve because of a bad back, but his $5.25 million annual payday, good through 2020, is just about impossible to scrub from their books. GM Jarmo Kekalainen will likely have to move a player to give Alexander Wennberg the raise he requires when he reaches restricted status in July.

Andrew Shaw and Teuvo Teravainen became the latest ex-Blackhawks, partly because Brent Seabrook’s average annual value climbed to $6.875 million from $5.8 million. During the next offseason, another big-name player — perhaps do-it-all center Marcus Kruger, due just over $3 million annually through 2019 — might have to leave Chicago.

Colorado has told people is, ‘Don’t ask us about Nathan MacKinnon and don’t ask us about Mikko Rantanen,’ who was their [first round] pick last year…..”

"Now, if you're asking about Matt Duchene or Gabriel Landeskog, from what I understand, teams have been told they're not giving these guys (away) because they're panicking," said Friedman. "If you want to come at [the Avalanche] with good, young defensemen or prospects, [they] are prepared to listen. But the packages are going to have to be big because they look at both [players] and see good players signed to good contracts."