Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press: The Red Wings didn’t make a lot a changes/additions last offseason and at the trade deadline.
“I make decisions based on all the information available to me, whether it’s the trade deadline, whether it’s free agency,” Holland said. “When we were at the trade deadline, I explored three or four different players. One of the assets that everybody wanted was our first-round pick. We traded a first-round pick last year for Kyle Quincey, and it turned out to be the 18th pick in the draft.
“This year, we did nothing. Some of the teams around us ended up trading away some unrestricted free agents. We made a decision that we were prepared to hang onto our unrestricted free agents and our young guys. I had teams calling for them, teams that were trying to go for it. Ultimately, I look at it that we hung onto our assets.”
St. James notes that the Red Wings did have interest in Jay Bouwmeester, Jason Pominville, Jaromir Jagr and Jarome Iginla at the trade deadline.
David Staples of the Edmonton Journal: Oilers GM Craig MacTavish:
“Well, we’re going to be very active in finding at least a couple goalies.” …. “The problem with Nik, from our perspective, is that he’s a 40 year old body who wasn’t able to stay as healthy as what you need.”
The Oilers will be looking for a big centerman this summer.
“Absolutely, and we’ll be trying to acquire that piece.”
MacTavish on free agency.
“I approach that market very cautiously. I think there are a lot of mistakes made with the UFA’s when you sign players who are diminishing in terms of what their contribution can be and they’re always inflated contracts.”
MacTavish on Sam Gagner.
“Sam likes it here, he has been a valuable member of our team and is always trending up and he’ll be a guy that we’ll be looking to sign.”
Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun: Senators Daniel Alfredsson will take his time, talking to his wife, GM Bryan Murray and Paul MacLean before deciding on his future.
“We’ll have our meetings. Then I’ll take some time. I’ll talk to (Murray) to see what he thinks, what timeline and then go from there,” said Alfredsson, a father of four.
“All I can say is it’s been a great year in terms of the group we had, the adversity we faced. We’ve become a tight group. We stuck together all along. It’s been a lot of fun. I’ll definitely take that with me when I think about what to do.”
“My wife takes a heavy load at home, and without her I would never be able to play this long,” said Alfredsson. “At times, I definitely feel like I miss out at home. You miss a lot of stuff. The first goal in your son’s career, birthdays. But … this game has given me so much, on and off the ice. When I make the decision I know it’s definite, and that’s why I want to take some time.”
