Dreger: Sens, Pens interested in Sabres' Stewart

Darren Dreger was on Montreal’s TSN 690 on Thursday morning.

On the trade market for Chris Stewart:

"Well, Chris Stewart’s name has been out there forever. That’s not an indictment necessarily of his play. Maybe the fact that he’s expecting to be traded is impacting his play. Only he can answer that.

“There are teams that have shown considerable interest over the past number of months, starting with the Ottawa Senators. Bryan Murray and the Ottawa Senators have liked Chris Stewart for a long, long time. But he’s been overvalued by Tim Murray. At least initially he was. And Bryan Murray wasn’t willing to pay whatever the asking price was. At one point, I think - this is way back, but I think they were looking or asking for Curtis Lazar. Well, that’s not going to happen. And I’m sure Tim Murray has softened considerably off that.

“I know the Pittsburgh Penguins, Jim Rutherford has expressed some interest in Chris Stewart. But as you’ve identified, his play has backed off a little bit too.

“So Tim Murray is in a good position in that he knows what his team is. He knows what the expectation is, and that’s to be dead last at the end of the regular season. And he also knows when the trade deadline is. So he can be patient. He’s not looking to improve his club. What he is looking at doing is increasing his draft status in terms of the number of picks, etc. So he can be patient, but that put a little bit more pressure on Chris Stewart to keep his game intact so there’s enough interest in him when the time comes.”

Source: TSN 690/ Transcript: Nichols on Hockey