- Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun: Gary Bettman presented a major realignment proposal to the board of governors for the 2012-13 season. It involved cutting the divisions down to 4, and possibly moving the Red Wings and Blue Jackets to the Eastern Conference. It is still in the discussion stages. It would be a balanced schedule with home-and-home’s against teams outside their division. Top 4 teams in each division make the playoffs, 1st round is divisional play, then re-seed for conference play. In each conference, 1 division would have 8 teams and the other 7. One league executive, “Nobody is happy with the current format so I would expect something like this is going to be adopted.”
- Will DePaoi of Inside Pittsburgh Sports: If the Penguins don’t bring Tyler Kennedy back, and don’t come to terms with Jaromir Jagr, Radim Vrbata could be an option if the price and length are right. He’s coming off a 3 year, $9 million deal, which might mean he’d want more than the Pens could offer.
- Andy Strickland of True Hockey: Strickland looks at some ‘what if’s’ involving the Leafs, Stamkos and the Canadiens. The Lightning won’t let Steven Stamkos to go over a few million bucks if some team puts in an offer sheet. Strickland wonders if the Canadiens would try to block the Maple Leafs attempt to acquire Stamkos (through an offer sheet if Burke is being pressured by ownership to sign Stamkos) by trading for Vinny Lecavalier? The Canadiens would have send Scott Gomez plus others. “Montreal knows if Toronto gets Stamkos, the balance of power immediately shifts.”
- Andy Strickland of True Hockey: Sources are saying that Keith Yandle won’t sign before July 1st, and won’t sign before at least one of Drew Doughty or Shea Weber get a deal done. The Coyotes can’t afford to lose Yandle. His salary wasn’t high enough last year for the Coyotes to offer him arbitration, so he’s open for offer sheets. LA is trying hard to lock up Doughty, some goes for Nashville and Weber. Weber may be waiting to see what moves the Predators will make to prove that they want to be a contender. It’s unlikely that the Sharks will re-sign Ian White and Ben Eager. They are working on re-signing Devin Setoguchi. The Canucks may put Keith Ballard on waivers and send him to the minors, as they are attempting to re-sign both Kevin Bieksa and Christian Ehrhoff. Roman Hamrlik expect to get a contract offer from the Canadiens by July 1st. The Florida Panthers are about $30 million below the salary floor, and may have to take on some bad contracts as long as they come with some draft picks. Maybe Ballard could head to Florida. The Blues may look to move Barrett Jackman who’s in the last year of his contract and could be looking for something in the $5 million range. Rob Niedermayer could be dangle to Blues who are looking for an experience player or 2.
- Eric Duhatschek of the Globe and Mail: Duhatschek offers up a bunch of questions. Could the Flames find someone to take Jay Bouwmeester? Might look good in Columbus. Would Rangers look to move Marian Gaborik to free up money for Brad Richards? Would the Senators be interested in Gaborik? Would the Coyotes be interested in Evgeni Nabokov?
- Dennis Bernstein via twitter: Bernstein thinks there is a less than 50% chance that the Kings move one of their goalies at the draft. He believes that Jonathan Bernier will be in play at some point.
-
Will DePaoli via twitter: Jagr’s agent will likely meet up with Pens GM Ray Shero at the draft. Mario is expected to get in touch with Jagr at some point. Rob Rossi via twitter: Jagr really wants to play for the Pens.
