Free Agent Hits: Smith, Letang, Gagner, Duchene, Bobrovsky, Nabokov, Briere, Alfie, Weiss, Pens, Rangers and Devils

Mark Easson

11 years ago

Darren Dreger: Mike Smith’s contract with the Coyotes is still being finalized, but sounding like it’s 6-years around $5.7 million per season.

Renaud Lavoie: Kris Letang’s camp and Penguins GM Ray Shero talked yesterday. Still no deal. They met again this morning and progress may have been made.

Darren Dreger: Sam Gagner’s agent, Jeff Jackson, met with Oilers GM Craig MacTavish yesterday. Still work to be done. A deal in the 3 to 5 year range makes sense.

Pierre LeBrun: Matt Duchene’s agent met with the Avalanche yesterday to talk contract contract extension. Talks will continue.

Aaron Portzline: Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekalainen and Paul Theofanous, Sergei Bobrovsky’s agent, had a 90 minute talk yesterday.

Katie Strang: Islanders Evgeni Nabokov will “probably” test the free agent market. Strang wonders if the Flyers will be interested on July 5th.

Craig Custance: Custance thinks that Daniel Briere to the Islanders makes sense. Gets to play with John Tavares and stay close to home.

Pierre LeBrun: Daniel Alfredsson’s agent, JP Barry, met with Senators GM Bryan Murray briefly last night.

Howard Berger: Stephen Weiss may be a more viable option for the Maple Leafs than Vincent Lecavalier.

Mike Halford: Viktor Stalberg’s agent confirms that he’s “highly likely” done in Chicago.

Renaud Lavoie: Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin doesn’t know if he’ll be giving a qualifying offer to Yannick Weber.

Will DePaoli of Inside Pittsburgh Sports: Talks between the Penguins and Pascal Dupuis’ agent, Allan Walsh, haven’t progressed much. Talks started last week with Dupuis wanting $5 million. Dupuis’ side may be looking for a 4-year deal in the $18-22 million range. Penguisns are confident they will have a deal in place with Craig Adams early this week. Matt Cooke is looking for a 3-year deal and the Hurricanes could be interested if the Penguins don’t re-sign him before July 5th. The Pens have offered a 2-year deal. The Pens have had no talks with Jarome Iginla, Douglas Murray, Brenden Morrow and Mark Eaton.

Andrew Gross of the Bergon Record: The Rangers will extend qualifying offers to Ryan McDonagh, Derek Stepan, Carl Hagelin and Mats Zuccarello by Tuesday.

Craig Custance of ESPN: Devils GM Lou Lamoriello is hopeful on re-signing David Clarkson and Patrick Elias. The Devils uncertain ownership isn’t helping things. Red Wings GM and Valtteri Filppula’s agent have talked and plan on talking again. If talks don’t go well, they could look to trade his rights, with the Blue Jackets possibly interested. Brad Boyes is expected to test free agency. The Kings haven’t ruled out re-signing Dustin Penner. As of Friday, talks between the Kings and Rob Scuderi were a “work in progress.”