- Pierre LeBrun of ESPN: There has been an offer and counteroffer between the Canucks and Christian Ehrhoff. An Ehrhoff deal would be around Kevin Bieksa and Dan Hamhuis money, a $4.5-4.6 million cap hit. Unlikely that he’d take less than either player. The Red Wings could be waiting if he doesn’t re-sign with the Canucks.
- Lance Hornby of the Toronto Sun: Tim Brent will join Fredrik Sjostrom, Darryl Boyce, Joey Crabb and Jay Rosehill as Maple Leafs UFAs. “We have made it clear that Tim would like to remain in Toronto to improve upon last year’s strong season,” Morris said in an e-mail to QMI Agency Monday night. “However, as of this late date, we would expect that Tim will be a free agent on Friday to look at his alternatives.”
- Damien Cox via twitter: The Maple Leafs were one of the teams that were very interested in Brooks Laich.
- Dmitry Chesnokov via twitter: KHL president Medvedev says that he will “help” younger players like Varlamov, Shirokov and Filatov come back to the KHL.
- Tom Reed via twitter: Blue Jackets GM Scott Howson made several inquiries at the draft about defenseman, but couldn’t get anything done.
- JF Chaumont via twitter: Defenseman Roman Hamrlik has received a 1 year contract offer from the Canadiens.
- Darren Dreger via twitter: It’s not sounding like the Hurricanes and Erik Cole are close on a deal, things can change quickly though.
- Josh Yohe and Rob Rossi of the Pittsburgh Tribune Review: Even though Tyler Kennedy wasn’t qualified yesterday, GM Shero wants to re-sign him by Friday. Shero also hopes to sign Jagr by then. The Pens may also be interested in re-signing Mike Rupp.
- Will DePaoli of Inside Pittsburgh Sports: Jaromir Jagr’s agent, Petr Svoboda, is in Montreal and confirms that he spoke with Penguins GM Ray Shero this morning.
- Thomas Reed via twitter: Tyler Kennedy could make sense for the Blue Jackets if he doesn’t come to terms with the Penguins.
- NHL.com: Penguins coach Dan Bylsma on Sidney Crosby,
“He came back to Pittsburgh after a hiatus or vacation with some of his teammates,” Bylsma said. “The doctors here cleared him to go home and work out as he normally would be working out. He’s been working out two times a day and progressing along his normal road of summer activity. That’s what Sid has been doing. He’s got another two and a half months ahead of doing that.”
Bylsma on Evgeni Malkin,
“He really believed — and was trying to convince everyone involved — that he was going to be coming back as soon as possible to play in the playoffs if we could have moved on (to the next round),” Bylsma said. “He was progressing to the point where that was actually a real possibility. He was really doing very well strength-wise and he was ahead of schedule in terms of what the doctors could do with his rehab.”
