- Adrian Dater: One trade rumor that Dater wouldn’t do is Erik Johnson and No. 1 for Viktor Hedman and No. 3.
- Josh Rimer: If the Canucks don’t trade Roberto Luongo this weekend, Rimer can see him getting bought out. Doubts Cory Schneider gets traded. James Mirtle: Canucks GM Mike Gillis hasn’t ruled out buying out Luongo.
- Dustin Leed: The Flyers trading Braydon Coburn would only make sense if they got above market value, clear some cap space for a specific reason, targeting another defenseman.
- John Vogl of the Buffalo News: Sabres GM Darcy Regier on Thomas Vanek and Ryan Millerbeing members of the Sabres after this weekend.
“Right now, I do, yes,” Regier said this afternoon.
“I entered this weekend recognizing that they both are in the last year of their contracts, and I have a responsibility to see what that means both with those players and also within the marketplace,” Regier said. “Unless you’re a highly competitive team, it’s very difficult to have players on your roster whose contracts are going to expire if you either choose not to or don’t have the ability to re-up them.
“Just to lose those assets, you try to get a sense of what the marketplace is like, and that’s a process that’s ongoing. I expect it will continue to move through the draft into maybe free agency and maybe beyond that. We’re actively keeping our finger on the pulse of what’s going on in the league, and we’ll have to just make our decision.”
Regier on their No. 8 and No. 16 draft slots:
“Right now I expect that we will pick where we’re picking, and I say that only because there’s nothing that’s imminent or concrete,” Regier said. “But like I said, there are a lot of conversations, and they will continue right until the draft starts and even beyond that.”