On the Minnesota Wild …
Emily Kaplan: Keys to the Minnesota Wild offseason.
1. Re-sign defenseman Matt Dumba and forward Jason Zucker – Both are RFAs and are easy decisions for the Wild. The 23-year old Dumba put up 50 points, Zucker scored 33 goals.
2. GM situation – GM Chuck Fletcher has been with the team since 2009 and his contract is expiring. The Wild have made to the playoffs the past six years but haven’t made it conference finals.
3. Get younger – The Wild are one of the older teams in their league with five of their core pieces being over 30 – Devan Dubnyk, Mikko Koivu, Zach Parise, Eric Staal and Ryan Suter.
Matt Cullen is likely to retire.
On the Arizona Coyotes …
Craig Morgan of Arizona Sports: Coyotes forward Max Domi is a restricted free agent this offseason and negotiations between the Coyotes and Domi’s agent Pat Brisson could be interesting. Contract talks have already begun.
“Now that the season has ended, we have engaged in preliminary discussions with his agent,” Chayka said. “We have had good dialogue so far.”
Domi hasn’t given his contract situation much thought, but that will be changing. His dad, Tie, has given him advice.
“My old man (former NHL player Tie Domi) always said ‘no matter what is going on around you, whether it’s issues with whoever or you’re not playing well or it’s a contract, you just focus on playing well every single night.’
“I guess it’s time to start thinking about the contract because there are no games left.”
On the Los Angeles Kings …
Chris Nichols of FanRag Sports: Elliotte Friedman was on Sportsnet 960 and was talking about what could be happening in Los Angles this offseason.
“L.A., that’s probably going to be more of a player kind of thing,” anticipated hockey Insider Elliotte Friedman during a Friday morning segment on Calgary’s Sportsnet 960. “L.A. is really in a transition phase anyway. I don’t see the coach being in any trouble. They just have a new GM. They’ve got to get Doughty signed and the belief is I think he wants to stay. I think they will. They know that it’s going to cost them and I think they’re prepared to pay the price. He can be extended on July 1.”
