Helene Elliott of the LA Times: Ilya Kovalchuk left Los Angeles Tuesday afternoon, his agent stayed to have more talks with GM Dean Lombardi, but left last night without a deal in place. There were rumors that the talks were off yesterday, but also rumors that things were progressing. The Kings wouldn’t say anything. I can’t wait for all this to be over, I’m getting tired of reading/writing about it, sign for $8 million and be done with it.
Chuck Gormley of the Courier Post: With the re-signing of Daniel Carcillo yesterday, and with the Darrol Powe still remaining, the Flyers could be about $2.75 million over the cap. Simon Gagne is most likely on his way out according to reports, the LA Kings, Maple Leafs and Rangers showing interest.
Rich Chere of the Star-Ledger: Patrick Elias throws out his 2-cents saying the Devils should trade for Tomas Kaberle. He also thinks that Petr Sykora should get a tryout with the team. He hasn’t heard from Kovalchuk, and doesn’t know his intentions.
Pierre LeBrun via Twitter: Maple Leafs still listening to offers for Tomas Kaberle according to source in the front office.
Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News: Heika believes the Stars have offered James Neal a 2 year deal worth $2.5 million a season, but Neal wants more money and a longer term. He isn’t sure what the Stars want to sign Nicklas Grossman for. They’d probably like to keep Matt Niskanen at his $900,000 qualifying offer. Heika doesn’t think any will get an offer sheet, and they could let Neal sit out part of training if they have to as they have plenty of left wingers.
Kevin Paul Dupont of the Boston Globe: Blake Wheeler’s arbitration hearing is set for July 27th, but both sides would like to avoid it. They are expected to go to arbitration with recently acquired Gregory Campbell on the 22nd.
Tarik El-Bashir via Twitter: The Capitals and Tomas Fleischmann are “talking” according to GM George McPhee, but didn’t sound like anything was imminent.
Aaron Portzline via Twitter: Blue Jackets GM Scott Howson hasn’t had any contract extension talks with the Steve Mason or Jakub Voracek, but hasn’t ruled it out for later in the summer.
