Seattle will dig more into their GM search next spring
NHL Seattle: Seattle’s Senior Hockey Advisor Dave Tippett on hiring a GM: “We’ll have a good list of candidates, some might be working through the draft with their team, might be somebody available before that…by next Spring we’ll start digging into that.”
A patient offseason for the Minnesota Wild
Michael Russo of The Athletic: Many had expected Paul Fenton to make a bold trade or two this offseason after being hired as their new GM.
Fenton only signed fourth-line/fringe players and being patient with the team as he gathers more info.
RFAs Jason Zucker and Matt Dumba were re-signed, and now with the season getting closer, evaluating who stays and goes as they look to get over the hump.
“Now we want to see what we have here,” Fenton said. “I like the group. I want to get a look at the group. That’s the biggest thing. I’ve got a pretty good feel for the chemistry and talent level by looking at it from afar, but things do look different when you get in there and open up the hood. I’m happy with the free agents we signed. We added different types of elements, some right-shot forwards that we lacked, some character that I think will go a long way in the locker room and a real quality defenseman.
“Now, let’s see how it measures up going forward.”
The Wild won’t off a contract extension to Eric Staal until they see how he plays this season. The Wild do have the space to fit him in.
They will eventually have issues with signing free agents and trading for a big named player as they have a lot of their locked up, and have Zach Parise and Ryan Suter signed for seven more seasons at $7.538 million per.
Teams did talk to Fenton about trade when he was hired, but one source said that teams were “circling and lowballing.”
Matt Duchene hoping to remain with the Senators
TSN: Matt Duchene is entering the final season of his deal with the Ottawa Senators. He says he hasn’t really thought about it.
Duchene added that he spoke with Senators GM Pierre Dorion earlier this offseason and is hopeful that they can reach a deal.
“I’d love for it to work out. Obviously it’s my home province, three hours from home, Canadian city, it’s a great situation for me so it would be awesome if things could work out that’s for sure,” Duchene said.