- Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News: The Dallas Stars fired head coach Glen Gulutzan and assistant coach Paul Jerrard.
- Eric Stephens: Ducks GM Murray said the team will be different next year. He indicated that he’d like Saku Koivu to return, and will talk to Teemu Selanne over the next little while.
- Anaheim Ducks: Murray on Teemu Selanne: “I’ll wait a while, go hit a few (golf) balls, go play with him and let him beat me, and then we’ll decide.”
- Brian Costello: The Dallas Stars were cheering for the Bruins. If the Bruins make the Eastern Conference final, the Stars will get their 1st round pick. If they don’t, they’ll get a 2nd round pick. From the Jaromir Jagr trade.
- B.D. Gallof: “Just to make this VERY clear… Nino Niederreiter is NOT being actively shopped. See his name coming up like forgone conclusion. To expand on Nino thoughts: yes, he is a tradable asset. however, when has Garth ever just traded off asset? Has to be right scenario. Also do not believe #isles will spend ANY rebuild assets for a goalie when vets aplenty.
- Jeremy Rutherford of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: A couple Blues GM Doug Armstrong quotes in case you missed them.
“This is a public cry that for any GMs that have any 50-goal scorers that want to just send them to St. Louis, give me a call,” Armstrong said. “I spent the last two days going over the top 20 scorers the last few years, and most of them are drafted by their own teams. Reality is with free agency the way it is now, teams tie up those elusive top-end goal scorers.
“If I can find a guy that can come in and help us score goals, certainly we’re going to look at doing it. But to think that that player is out there and teams say, ‘Geez, it’s St. Louis’ time to win, we’ll give you (Alex) Ovechkin,’ you’ve got to deal in reality. … It’s incumbent upon the players in this room to find out how to produce when the lights are the brightest to score those goals.”
“We have players that have produced in the past that haven’t been able to get us over the hump in the playoffs, but they’re still in those prime years,” Armstrong said. “I believe that the home-grown talent can produce at those times. The easiest thing is to show somebody the door. It’s foolish if you’re not bringing in somebody that’s better.”
Andy McDonald will be a UFA and is not expected to re-sign. Armstrong said they expect to re-sign all their RFAs including Chris Stewart and Patrik Berglund.
“I don’t see this being a huge free agency offseason for us,” he said. “I see it more taking care of our own business and then seeing if we want to re-arrange some of the chairs via trade.”
Stewart, Berglund and David Perron could be players the Blues consider trading.