- Sarah McLellan of the Arizona Republic: Coyotes goalie Mike Smithis hopeful that he and the Coyotes can work out a deal.
“We’ll see what happens, but that’s out of my control right now,” he said.
- Brad Ziemer of the Vancouver Sun: With the salary cap going down next year, UFA winger Mason Raymond could be one of the casualties. There has been no contract talks between the two sides. Adding the likelihood of Raymond being on his way out, was the 4 year, $10 contract extension given to Chris Higgins last week. The Canucks already have $63.8 million committed to 16 players for next season. The salary cap will be $64.3 million. A buyout our two is possible, and a goalie could be moved to free up more cap space. Other UFAs are Max Lapierre, Andrew Alberts and Derek Roy. RFAs include Chris Tanev, Dale Weise and Tom Sestito.
- Ansar Khan of MLive: As of late last week, there had been no contract talks between the Red Wings and Valtteri Filppula.
“There’s nothing going on right now,” Filppula said.
Asked if it’s important to him to sign before the end of the season, Filppula said, “I think the focus should be on playing right now. And then when the time comes to think about that (contract) stuff I will do that.”
