- Dhiren Mahiban of Pro Hockey Talk: Cody Franson’s agent said that they have spoken with “half a dozen” teams.
“Just tire-kicking. General stuff,” Johannson said of the talks. “We already know who the teams are that would need someone like Cody anyway. The conversations have been pretty light.”
- Pierre LeBrun of ESPN: Due to their salary cap position, it will be difficult for Brad Richards to return to the Blackhawks.
“They’ve talked to Pat and obviously I want to continue talking to them, but I also know their situation,” Richards told ESPN.com on Monday. “Personally, I don’t know how long I can wait to see what the landscape is.”
Richards likely won’t sign anywhere right away.
“Winning is No. 1, of course it is, but there could be a fit elsewhere where a team surprises you and I look at their roster and maybe think it’s better than other people think,” said Richards, who has played 78 playoff games the past four seasons alone.
“I still feel like I can contribute and I proved that to myself this year. I understand there are roles I have to accept at this point in my career but I also think I can play an important role. I’ll weigh all that stuff and see what kind of role a team will have for me.”
The Kings would like to re-sign Andrej Sekera – 10 teams have shown interest.
The Jets and Drew Stafford continue to work on a deal.
- Joanne Ireland of the Edmonton Journal: After adding Cam Talbot, Griffin Reinhart and Eric Gryba at the draft, the Oilers need to fill out their roster through free agency is not as urgent.
“What’s interesting to me in this whole exercise is that there’s a lot of players coming out of woods here and I think that’s because we have (salary) cap size and roster spots,” Chiarelli said during the weekend. “There are some interesting names out there and I believe there will continue to be more interesting names.”
- Renaud Lavoie: Have heard that Canadiens would be at the top of Michael Frolik’s list. He trains in Montreal in the offseason.
