from Michael Traikos of the National Post,

After acquiring Alex DeBrincat from Chicago in a trade for Ottawa’s seventh-overall pick, the word coming out of the last week’s draft was that the Senators were also lining up to try to sign Claude Giroux to feed passes to the two-time 40-goal scorer.

Detroit, which traded for St. Louis goalie Ville Husso, is now reportedly looking at Tampa Bay pending free agent winger Ondrej Palat, whom GM Steve Yzerman and new head coach Derek Lalonde both know well from their time with the Lightning.

New Jersey, which traded for Washington goalie Vitek Vanecek, and Philadelphia, which traded for Carolina defenceman Tony DeAngelo, are both reportedly trying to pry Johnny Gaudreau out of Calgary. If that doesn’t materialize, both will probably turn their attention to Nazem Kadri. Or Evander Kane.

And though they might not be considered the frontrunners, expect Buffalo, which had a trade in place for Ottawa’s Matt Murray, to join the bidding war for goaltenders Darcy Kuemper and Jack Campbell.

Surprised?

You should be. All five of these so-called “buyers” finished in the bottom-six in the Eastern Conference standings last season.

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