- Insider Trading TSN: LeBrun: The rising salary cap could help P.K. Subban. He may have to decide if he should sign an eight year deal, with the cap potentially being $100 when that deal is done or to sign a three or four year deal and see what he could get after that. The Canadiens will be looking long-term.McKenzie: If the cap rises to $75-80 million, max deals could go as high as $15-16 million a year. Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews can start negotiating new deal this summer. Steven Stamkos will be a free agent in 2016. Agents and players think it’s only a matter of time before some are making between $12-14 million.
Dreger: There is nothing imminent with the firing of Islanders coach Jack Capuano. GM Garth Snow is looking for a top-pairing defenseman.
McKenzie: The Sabres GM search list may have now grown to six to 10 names.
- Mike Halford of Pro Hockey Talk: Alain Vigneault on what he wants the Rangers to look like and what might have to happen.
“I look at the Detroit Red Wings—who I know well, because I coached against them for the last seven years—they’ve had no toughness, per se, as far as that type of personality, at no point other than Tootoo the last couple of years, but those guys play hard,” Vigneault explained, as per Newsday. “They have the puck and they say “Try and get it from me” or if they don’t have it, they battle like hell to get it back. That’s the team toughness that I’m hoping we get here.
“Maybe we’ll get there by changing some personnel, adding a little more toughness, we’re at .500, I’m trying.”
- Ed Willes of the Vancouver Province: Willis notes that there seems to be a riff between the Jets and Evander Kane and that Kane is from Vancouver. Trading for Kane would not be easy.
- Adrian Dater of the Denver Post: Dater poses the question if the Avalanche should sign Paul Stastny to a contract extension or look to trade him? If Stastny remains, Nathan MacKinnon would then be their 3rd line center or move to wing and play on one of the top two lines. The Canadiens have been scouting the Avalanche and Dater has been told they are looking hard at Stastny. The Maple Leafs could use a center and you have to think they’ve been considering making an offer. There have been no talks between the Avs and Stastny.
- Darren Dreger: Gary Bettman said there is lots of expressions of interest in expansion. The NHL is willing to listen, but a decision on expansion hasn’t been made.
- Mark Spector: Bettman: “We’ve gone from people saying we should relocate to talk now of expansion. People need to slow down.”
- Chris Stevenson: Bettman on the potential of having an outdoor game in Winnipeg: “It’s still a work in progress, but at some point in the next few years. Perhaps ’16, perhaps not, we’ll have an outdoor game in Winnipeg.”
- Gary Lawless of the Winnipeg Free Press: Jets chairman Mark Chipman confirmed that they’ll be holding the Heritage Classic in Winnipeg.
“The NHL has confirmed to me they are going to do an outdoor game in Winnipeg. I don’t have a specific date to announce but it would be our preference that we do it in the 2015-16 season,” Chipman told the Free Press Monday evening in the lobby of the Inn at Spanish Bay. “The date hasn’t been confirmed but our preference is to do it then. The league’s commitment to doing an outdoor game in our city is fantastic. It’s something we’ve been talking about for some time and it’s part of a significant strategy to do outdoor games and it will be great to be a part of it. We just have to firm up some details and hopefully we’ll have a date to announce fairly soon.”
- Ryan Boulding: Scouting the Avs – Coyotes: Flames, Canucks, Jets, Penguins, Canadiens, and Lightning (2).
