- Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal: Atlanta Thrashers Winnipeg president Don Waddell will manage the team until the Board of Governors approves the sale on June 21st, he will not be heading north with the team. “When we hand our keys over to Winnipeg, I want to make sure it’s in the best condition possible,” said Waddell. Waddell was trying to get people together to keep the team in Atlanta, “We tried to marry up people, some willing to put up $5 million, $10 million, up to $20 million, I tried it with multiple groups, but we couldn’t make it work,” he said. “We couldn’t raise enough capital to buy it and to operate it.”
- Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun: There will be a battle off-ice to see which team moves to the Eastern Conference after next season. The Red Wings, Blue Jackets and Predators all want to switch conferences. “This is going to be a huge fight,” said a league executive. The Wings have wanted to move for over a decade.
“The only problem for the Wings is they are a huge draw for a lot of the teams in the Western Conference,” said another NHL executive. “They’re not going to want to give up those dates when the Wings come to town.
“The Predators and Jackets don’t draw nearly as many fans for a lot of those teams as Detroit does. There’s going to be a lot of Western teams that won’t want to see Detroit moved to the East.”
- Bruce Garrioch via twitter: The Ottawa Senators have started interviewing head coaches. Red Wings assistant Paul MacLean and Canadiens Kirk Muller have both held talks already. Sources are saying that MacLean was in Ottawa on Monday and Muller spoke with management in the last 48 hours. It’s beleived that Sens GM Bryan Murray will speak with 5 potential candidates. After the Calder Cup the Sens will interview Kurt Kleinendorst.
- George Richards of the Miami Herald: The Florida Panthers will name Kevin Dineen their new head coach this afternoon at 3 pm.
- Damian Cristodero of the St. Petersburg Times: Steven Stamkos, his agent Mark Guy and Lightning GM Steve Yzerman don’t see any reason why a deal can’t get done.
“Both sides have a good relationship,” Guy said Monday. “Steven likes Tampa Bay, and he likes the environment. I don’t see any reason why once we get down to it, we won’t get something done.”
Stamkos is expected to sign for atleast $7 million a season.
- Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News: Stars GM Joe Nieuwendyk has interviewed 3 possible head coaches and plans for at least 1 more. He has talked to Glen Gulutzan (Texas AHL), Ken Hitchcock and Peter Horachek (Nashville assistant). Nieuwendyk also plans to talk to Kirk Muller and possibly someone else. They would like to have coach in place before the end of June.
- Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News: There could be some news regarding the sale of the Dallas Stars by the end of the week according to interim president Tony Tavares.
“There has been a lot of progress made in the past week, and we’re very confident about things moving forward,” Tavares said.
Vancouver businessman Tom Gaglardi is moving forward and received an extension on his exclusive 30-day negotiating window according to 2 sources. The process is complicated deal as it has to go through court proceedings and may not be official until July or August. Dallas businessmen Dough Miller and Billy Quinn are also interested in the team. Detroit businessman Christopher T. Charlton may also be interested.
