NHL Rumors and Notes: Devils, Stars, Flyers and Bruins
Damon Severson of the New Jersey Devils
On the New Jersey Devils …

Todd Cordell: Contract talks between the New Jersey Devils and RFA defenseman Damon Severson are expected to resume . Don’t think that they are that far apart on a deal.

On the Dallas Stars …

Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News: Dallas Stars head coach Ken Hitchcock said Jason Spezza would likely play both center and left wing. He doesn’t see Spezza playing beside Martin Hanzal, but could see Radek Faksa fitting in with Hanzal.

When asked about the possibility of carrying eight defensemen, Hitchcock said they don’t want to use a rotation and the top-six will play the majority. If they keep seven or eight defensemen, it’s irrelevant to Hitchcock.

On the Philadelphia Flyers …

Dave Isaac of the Courier-Post: Philadelphia Flyers GM Ron Hextall when asked about a bringing in a defenseman on a PTO.

“No, we don’t have anybody yet. We have some feelers out there. We’ll see what happens there. We’re not going to bring someone in for the sake of bringing someone in. He’s got to be a guy that we feel can play if need be. We’ll see where it goes, but we’re continuing to monitor the market.”

On the Boston Bruins …

Ty Anderson of WEEI: Boston Bruins defenseman Brandon Carlo was in the rumor mill this summer – mainly attached to Matt Duchene trade rumors. Carlo said he had friends and family texting him, but he just blew the trade rumors off.

“I tried not to ,” Carlo admitted. “It was my first year in the league so you kind of hear things and you never know because you don’t have much experience with that. For myself, I heard about it, and I tried to just stay away from it and focus on playing hockey. I love it here in Boston and I was hoping that I wouldn’t leave, so overall I just try to stay away from most of the media stuff because it’s more negative than positive if it takes a toll on you mentally during the season.”

Carlo added that Bruins GM Don Sweeney told him they wanted him to remain with the team.