- Roger Hensley of the St. Louis Post Dispatch: Question: Will Jaroslav Halak and Brian Elliott split time or will one become the traditional starter. Jeremy Rutherford: Rutherford expects them to split time, but GM Doug Armstrong recently noted that he can see Halak playing more than the 46 games he played last year. Dan O’Neill: “if it’s not broke, don’t fix it.” Tom Timmerman: May depend on how well Halak starts the season. If he starts off hot, he could see more game. Elliott may get 30 games. If Halak starts off cold, Elliott will get more games. Andy Strickland: Hard to say, will have to see how they play throughout the season. If they are hot, they’ll play more. Kevin Wheeler: He’d roll with the same setup as last year.
- Kevin Kurz CSN Bay Area: Wonders if the Sharks are short a defenseman. They have a strong top 5, but questions surround Douglas Murray and Jason Demers. Prospect Taylor Doherty could see some action this season. Some free agent options could be Michal Rozsival, Carlo Colaiacovo, Jim Vandermeer, Scott Hannan, Brett Clark, Matt Gilroy, Jaroslav Spacek, Pavel Kubina, Steve Eminger and Kurtis Foster.
- David Pollak of the San Jose Mercury News: Pollak comment s on Boston Globe’s Kevin Paul Dupont’s note on the Rangers possibly looking at Joe Thornton:
“Don’t be surprised” could be code for, ‘I talked with someone in the Rangers organization’ or it could mean Dupont is just stirring the pot. No problem with that either way.
Nothing suggests that the Sharks might be receptive to an offer. The Sharks are looking to improve their roster, and the Rangers aren’t going to offer up Henrik Lundqvist, Ryan Callahan and Marc Staal (overstatement but making a point). Thornton has a no-trade clause. He called the Rangers soft last year, later apologized.
- Ed Tait of the Winnipeg Free Press: Tait mentions some free agent names that might look good in a Jets uniform: Shane Doan, Milan Jurcina, Kristian Huselius, Carlo Colaiacovo, Kurtis Foster, Mathieu Darche, Petr Sykora and Jonathan Cheechoo.
- Roger Millions via twitter: Flames 1st round pick Mark Jankowski will play with Providence College rather than Dubuque of the USHL.
- Chris Kuc via twitter: Cristobal Huet’s agent said he’s “still working on” getting a deal with an NHL team.