- David Pagnotta: “Players signed to new deals under new CBA can be bought out this summer, but don’t count towards compliance buyouts.”
- Bob McKenzie: Talked to 16 coaches about some NHL awards. Jack Adams: 11 of 16 voted for Patrick Roy, finishing ahead of Julien, Babcock, Cooper and Boudreau. Calder: Nathan MacKinnon was unanimous. He was well ahead of Palat, Krug, Tyler Johnson. Next group: Monahan, Maatta, H Lindholm, Jones, Kreider. Selke: 10 of 16 voted for Patrice Bergeron, then followed by Toews, Kopitar and Backes.
- Habs Links: Elliotte Friedman: “I think Therrien has enormous standards for Subban & he’s not going to bend them” Implying that he’s harder on his better players.
- Tony Marinaro: Carey Price, Andrei Markov and Alexei Emelin remaining in Montreal as team heads to Chicago.
- Mark Spector: “In the end, the highest % for building is at draft. Free agency has lost value. Trading can work, but augments. Rebuilds slower under cap”
- John Vogl of the Buffalo News: There has been talk of adjusting the draft lottery system to avoid teams from tanking. Sabres GM Tim Murray is worried about it.
“We’ve all heard that talk of the five-team, five-year rotation, things like that, but there’s been really no appetite to do that,” Murray said. “They don’t think there’s any appetite right now to change it. I believe if there is an appetite to change it, if they’re going to make a drastic change, it has to be something like three to five years out so it doesn’t affect somebody that’s in that position now.
“From what I understand, they’re not worried about tanking for McDavid and Eichel.”