- John Matheson of the Edmonton Journal: Matheson doesn’t think Steve Yzerman will take the Tampa Bay Lightning GM job, as they are “set up to fail”. The Oilers should go after Dustin Byfuglien and his $3 million contract. They have 2 2nd round picks this year and prospect Riley Nash, that could be used in some sort of package. The Blackhawks will be looking to dump some salary this off-season.
- John Matheson of the Edmonton Journal: Raffi Torres’ probably won’t be getting the nice contract he’d hoped for, as he was inconsistent with Buffalo down the stretch and was a healthy scratch in their final playoff game. The Predators will look to re-sign Patrick Hornqvist but probably won’t have the money for Dan Hamhuis. Hamhuis would be a great fit in Minnesota. Zbynek Michalek may look to join his brother Milan in Ottawa. Tom Poti, after taking a puck in the face in game 6 of the Cap-Canadiens series, required 4 plates to repair the damage. The Capitals probably won’t bring back Jose Theodore, Brendan Morrison and Shaone Morrisonn. They may also look at trading Tomas Fleischman, who despite a 51 point season, was a healthy scratch in the game the Caps were eliminated.
- Dave Molinari of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: A reader asks Molinari of the possibility of the Pittsburgh Penguins going after Anton Volchenkov. Molinari thinks it would have to depend on what the Penguins want to do with Sergei Gonchar, Jordan Leopold, Mark Eaton, and Jay McKee. If they don’t want to pay Gonchar the big money, it could be a possibility.
- Terry Frei of the Denver Post: The Colorado Avalanche defensive corps outlook for next season. Ruslan Salei and Brett Clark’s combined $6.5 million salaries are most likley both gone. The 39-year old Adam Foote’s 2 year deal expires, but he could be back on a salary that is maybe less than the $3 million cap hit he had this year. They’d like to move John-Michael Liles but he has 2 years and $8.4 million left. Scott Hannan is at $4.5 million and would be hard to move at that number. Kyle Comiskey is at a friendly $600,000 so he will most likely be back. They will look to re-signing Kyle Quincey. They will mostly likely have a top 6 of Foot, Quincey, Liles, Cuminskey, and Ryan Wilson. Defensive prospects are Kevin Shattenkirk, Colby Cohen, Tyson Barrie, Stefan Elliott and Cameron Gaunce.