- Mike Zeisberger of the Toronto Sun: Mike Babcock on his decision process to leave the Red Wings and join the Maple Leafs.
“It wasn’t one day, it was 12 days,” Babcock said of the period in which he mulled over his choices in anguish. “It was a nightmare. An absolute nightmare. I know why guys don’t do it.
“I met with lots of teams. The only team anyone talks about is Buffalo because in the end it came down to Buffalo, Detroit and Toronto. There were other teams we don’t talk about. To be honest, in the whole process, I didn’t really negotiate with anyone.”
The offers kept coming in.
“Don’t get me wrong. Was money involved? Absolutely. But at a certain point, it doesn’t matter any more. With the Red Wings, with Buffalo, with Toronto, it didn’t matter as much any more, it mattered what was the best fit for me and my family.”
- Aaron Portzline of the Columbus Dispatch: The Blue Jackets will be bringing James Sheppard and Antti Pihlstrom to training camp on a tryout. Sheppard spent last season with the Rangers. Pihlstrom had spent the last four years playing in the KHL. The Blue Jackets have 12 forwards on one-way contract, and several prospects that are close to being NHL ready.
- Randy Miller of NJ.com: The Flyers added Sam Gagner, Evgeni Medvedev and Michael Neuvirth this offseason, and GM Ron Hextall likes where the team is at.
“I like the three pieces that we added,” Hextall said. “We knew we needed to add a skill player up front and we did with Sam. We needed to add a defensemen on the backend and with some size and moving ability and skating ability, we feel like we did that with Evgeni. And obviously with Michael … with Mason’s problems last year with some injuries, to have Michael alongside we feel like that’s an upgrade as well.
“So I feel good about the additions, the whole chemistry and everything your lines and players and guys bouncing back from tough years. I feel good about our team. I mean I really do. I like where we’re at.”
- Ed Willies of the Vancouver Province: The Canucks organizational priorities will be drafting and developing.
“There’s no question that, after seeing things for a year, I knew we had to make some changes and get to a better place,” Linden says. “There were things I wasn’t happy with. I knew we had to do some restructuring and put new processes in place.
“That’s what I’ve spent the last month doing, and I’m really excited about the changes we’ve made. Whether they show up in wins and losses this season, I don’t know, but this is a long-term vision.”
They made significant changes to their front office, training staff and scouting department.