- Ian Mendes:: Senators GM Bryan Murray: “Matt Kassian’s not in our plans — and we’re not in his plans.”
- Chip Alexander: Hurricanes pending UFA Ron Hainsey likes the fit and will “see how it goes.”
- Michael Smith: Hurricanes Andrei Loktionov wants to remain in the NHL next season and with the Hurricanes.
- Katie Carrera of the Washington Post: Capitals pending UFA Mikhail Grabovski wouldn’t mind remaining in Washington, but would want to know which way the organization is going.
“Nobody knows what’s going to happen here, so it’s made me disappointed too,” Grabovski said Tuesday. “I want to know, first before I sign, who’s going to be coach, who’s going to be general manager, because nobody knows and lots of stuff is being said.”
“I just don’t want to have same experience I have before in Toronto when Ron Wilson is gone just after I sign, and they bring in a coach who don’t really want me,” Grabovski said. “For me it’s important that people believe in you and trust. Adam Oates, he bring me here with McPhee. They trust me as a player, and I do my best in the half-season I played. I can do better. people trust me, I feel this and I play better, good hockey.”
Grabovski is believed to be looking for a four or five year deal in the $5 million per season range.
- Sam Carchidi of the Philadelphia Inquirer: Flyers GM Paul Holmgren on if he wants pending UFA Kimmo Timonen back next season.
“Absolutely,” he said, though it’s highly probable the defenseman would take a pay cut from his $6 million salary. “We’ve talked a couple times during the year and put it on the shelf, and we’ll talk again in a couple months. I know his family is very big in his life, and his kids are getting older and he wants to be around them more. But he loves to compete, and if he wants to come back, we’ll figure it out.”
Timonen doesn’t want to start thinking about retirement.
“Once you start thinking about it, you don’t think about the game as much,” he said. “During the Olympics, I knew it was my last game and it was really emotional. I knew it was the last time I put the Finland jersey on. But I haven’t made up my mind yet here.”