- Fluto Shinzawa of the Boston Globe: The Devils have enough salary cap to bring back Jaromir Jagr and Marek Zidlicky. The Jets could be a potential landing spot for Bruins pending UFA goalie Chad Johnson. Jets Al Montoya will be a UFA. It is possible the Ducks let pending UFA Jonas Hiller walk at the end of the season and go with a Frederik Andersen and John Gibson tandem next year.
- Adrian Dater of the Denver Post: The Avalanche and Paul Stastny’s camp will have contract discussions when the season is over.
“Quite honestly, it was not even close from us to move Pauly,” said Roy, who also holds the title of vice president of hockey operations. “We said all along we didn’t want to have rental players, (but) the only one we would keep is Paul, because we believe that Paul wants to stay as an Avalanche next year. We believe that there’s a good chance for him to re-sign with us. Now, how it will happen, it will be up to Joe and his agent. But I think Paul has the Avs in his heart and I think he’s going to want to be in this town.”
When asked if he expects to re-sign with the Avalanche.
“I hope so,” he said Friday. “But I don’t really care about what’s going on with that stuff. That’s down the road. For me right now, it’s all about this team and what we’ve been doing all year and what we want to keep doing.”
- Sarah McLellan of the Arizona Republic: Coyotes Antoine Vermette will be a UFA after next season, but they can start contract extension talks after July 1st.
“I like it here,” Vermette said. “I haven’t thought a lot about it. It’s really quick, but we’ll see what’s going to present itself and we’ll listen.”
Vermette will likely be looking for a raise from his current $3.75 million.
“Yeah, we’d like to do something,” General Manager Don Maloney said. “But as we’ve learned, whether we’re able to do something, that’s another story.”
- Rich Chere of the Star-Ledger: The Devils might look to bring in Brian Gionta this offseason. GM Lou Lamoriello said he’s always looking for bring in goal-scorers despite their reputation of being a defensive team.
“I don’t think we’ve ever not thought about offensive players. We always have,” Lamoriello said. “They also have to be able to do other things. All the players we added last year were basically offensive players.
“(Ryane) Clowe had a certain niche and made other people taller. (Michael) Ryder and (Damien) Brunner had a history as scorers. And with (Jaromir) Jagr you saw what we got. More than we thought.”
The Canadiens would like to retain their pending UFA, though he’d have to take less than the $5 million he made this season. Brian’s brother Stephen is a pending UFA for the Devils and would like to come back next year. He could help recruit Brian.
- Lance Pugmire of the LA Time: Ducks Saku Koivu on potential retirement after the season.
“Well, that’s … I haven’t thought that far away,” Koivu said. “You want , I’ve worked for it all these years and retiring would probably be easier if happened.
“But right now, you try to keep the focus on the game and not think about the future. You start doing that, you lose the focus, that intensity you’re trying to find. You hope that’s going to happen.
“And if it does, then I might have an answer for you.”
