- Rob Rossi of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: Talks between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Sergei Gonchar have now turned to negotiations. Both sides will meet again on Monday. Gonchar is looking or a multi-year deal, and may not consider taking a pay cut from the $5 million he made last season.
- Rich Chere of the Star-Ledger: Even with the acquisition of Jason Arnott and his $4.5 million salary, Devils GM Lou Lamoriello still thinks it’s possible to re-sign Paul Martin and Ilya Kovalchuk.
“No. You have to do other things to make room,” the GM said. “We didn’t win. We’re going to have to make some changes. There are going to be some changes that might surprise some people.
“We definitely will do everything we can. The priority right now is to get David Clarkson signed and Paul Martin signed. And we’ll see what Ilya Kovalchuk’s thought process is.”
If they are able to re-sign Kovalchuk, they will have to make some deals to get rid of some contracts.
- Tim Panaccio of the CSN: Talks between the Flyers and newly acquired Dan Hamhuis are scheduled for Monday.
- Aaron Portzline of the Columbus Dispatch: The Columbus Blue Jackets are expecting to hold on to their 4th overall pick, but they are listening to offers. If they were to trade it, they’d like stay in the top 9. Two players they may target if they move down are Austin Watson and Jeff Skinner, both have had private meeting with the club.
- Jeff Gordon of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: With the trading of Lars Eller, the probable departure of Paul Kariya and the retirement of Keith Tkachuk, the Blues may be lacking the depth upfront. The Blues will be looking for some scoring help.
- Jeremy Rutherord of St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Montreal Canadiens went right after Lars Eller when talks with St. Louis started about Halak. They project Eller to be a second line center, and he could be with the big club next season.
