from Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal,

Mathieu Perreault is a good little cheap centre who did some nice things as the guy behind Anaheim Ducks captain Ryan Getzlaf, but as sure as the Zamboni comes out every period to resurface the ice at the Honda Center, you can bet general manager Bob Murray will be taking another run at Ryan Kesler before the NHL entry draft.

No team has the assets the Ducks have to get this deal done if the Vancouver Canucks want to trade within the Pacific Division to get younger.

For now, it’s in limbo with new general manager Jim Benning on the scene.

“Kesler is a warrior,” Benning said at Friday’s news conference, acknowledging he’ll be talking to the centre this week to get his feel on whether he wants to stay in Vancouver or go to a contender as one of the nine players with no-trade clauses.

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Also from Matheson,

- I know this is a broken record, but the Chicago Blackhawks badly need a true No. 2 centre behind Jonathan Toews. It’s come home to roost against the Los Angeles Kings with the glacial Michal Handzus or hard-working role player Ben Smith in that role. It’s a crushing hole with the Kings’ Jeff Carter and Anze Kopitar a huge handful in the Western Conference final. Yes, we can bring up Sam Gagner’s name, again. Gagner and Patrick Kane did light it up as junior linemates with the London Knights once upon a time.

- More and more, it looks like an ownership power struggle or a team president David Morehouse tug-of-war with general manager Ray Shero over player decisions led to Shero’s leaving the Pittsburgh Penguins.

- The Detroit Red Wings like defenceman Matt Niskanen and need a puck-mover, but have never been crazy about getting into bidding wars for unrestricted free agents. Is he really a top pairing D-man or a No. 3? And how much is a guy who was the throw-in in the James Neal for Alex Goligoski trade really worth? The Red Wings might go to Plan B and sign Dan Boyle to a two-year deal. Boyle played for Mike Babcock in the 2010 Olympics Games.

- If any team is looking for a solid No. 4 centre who can win faceoffs, Detroit has Joakim Andersson on the market now that they like Luke Glendening more. Andersson isn’t a great skater, but he’s a heavy body and he wins 51.4 percent of his faceoffs.

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And even more from Matheson,

If Trotz gets the Caps’ job, Los Angeles Kings assistant coach John Stevens goes to the head of the list in Vancouver for the Canucks’ coaching job, with Boston’s Doug Houda and Texas Stars coach Willie Desjardins longer shots. Stevens was head coach with the Philadelphia Flyers before joining the Kings.

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