- L.A. Lariviere: The Ducks are said to be out of the Vincent Lecavalier sweepstakes as they are not willing to pay that much.
- Tom Gulitti: Dainius Zubrus signed a 3-year, $9.1 million deal with the Devils.
- Arthur Staple: The Islanders are among the teams interested in Daniel Briere. Will pick his finalists soon. “Wants a top-6 spot, wants to win.”
- James Mirtle: The Maple Leafs qualified Leo Komarov to retain his rights, even though he’ll be in the KHL next season. He’d be a UFA next year.
- Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press: Red Wings GM Ken Holland is expected to meet with Daniel Cleary today. Valtteri Filppula wants to test the free agent waters. Talks with Damien Brunner have been ongoing. The Wings met with Vincent Lecavalier over the weekend. St. James thinks the Lecavalier will end up in Dallas. He’s believed to be looking for a 5 year, $25 million deal. Intriguing forwards could be Nathan Horton and David Clarkson. They haven’t made a decision on compliance buyouts yet. Candidates could be Mikael Samuelsson, Todd Bertuzzi and Carlo Colaiacovo.
- Damien Cox of the Toronto Star: Tyler Bozak is looking for $5 million plus per season for as much as 8 years. The Leafs haven’t been told by Lecavalier that the are out. The Maple Leafs were in trade talks with the Hurricanes about the No. 5 pick. Rumors were that it would have cost them a young player and the No. 21 pick.
- Frank Seravalli of the Philadelphia Daily News: The Flyers are still looking for a goalie. They may have to scratch Ray Emery off their list. The Blackhawks did meet with Emery on Sunday night after the draft. They are confident that he can remain the Blackhawks as Crawford’s backup. The Islanders won’t be tolling Tim Thomas’contract, so he’ll be a UFA on Friday.
“I think we’ve got to look at anything and everything to try and make our team better, and that includes goaltending,” general manager Paul Holmgren told the Daily News. “That includes both the free-agent and trade market.”
Thomas not playing for a year would concern the Flyers. Other UFA options could be Evgeni Nabokov, Dan Ellis and Jose Theodore. The Flyers could look at the trade route. They were talking with the Oilers about Braydon Coburn and maybe Devan Dubnyk’s name was discussed. The Flyers made qualifying offers too Erik Gustafsson, Oliver Lauridsen, Eric Wellwood and Brandon Manning.