- Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal: A Bruins pro scout told Cam Neely that they need a puck moving defenseman and a power forward.
Wonder if the Canucks will look at trading the 34-year old Kevin Bieksa this summer. He’ll be UFA after next season.Wonder if the Oilers take a run at pending UFA Shawn Matthias if he makes it July 1st. The 27-year old has skill, but is not an overly physical bottom six forward. He could be looking for around $3 million per season.
No team will touch Alex Semin. The Hurricanes could look to trade Jeff Skinner for a top-four defenseman. It may be buyer beware with Skinner who has three concussions in his career.
It doesn’t sound like Coyotes coach Dave Tippett is totally up for a rebuild.
Blackhawks assistant coach Kevin Dineen could be a candidate for head coaching position this offseason.
- Kevin Paul Dupont: If the Bruins drag out their GM search, Claude Julien could miss out on multiple NHL openings. He still would get paid by the Bruins, so that could help ease the pain.
- Darren Dreger: As of last week, was told that Todd McLellan and Mike Babcock were the Flyers main targets. If both McLellan and Babcock become available, they will have multiple options.
- Dave Isaac of the Courier Post: Coaching options for the Flyers could include Mike Babcock, Claude Julien, Dave Tippett, Todd McLellan, Dan Bylsma, Randy Carlyle and Guy Boucher. GM Ron Hextall.
“I’m not gonna fast-track anything here,” Hextall said. “I would like to have a guy in place by the draft. That’s kinda, I guesss, the goal. I’m not gonna do things quickly. We’re gonna do our due diligence and look at essentially the whole landscape and come up with a coach that we feel is the right guy. I’m not gonna do something in the next couple weeks, for sure.”
“We’re looking for the right guy,” Hextall said. “Whether he has connections or not is not gonna be part of the equation. I don’t care about that. We’re looking for the best coach possible to coach our team moving forward.”