Zub still looking at the Senators
Darren Dreger: 24-year old free agent defenseman Artyom Zub has his NHL list down to two team. The Ottawa Senators are still his top choice. Zub is expected to make a decision in the next few weeks.
Igor Eronko: “Zub doesn’t play PP cause his playmaking abilities are not great although he has a good vision. Great PK specialist, good skater, sound defensively. This year he started to pinch in a lot more and showed he has a shot (2nd in the league in goals scored between the Ds with 13)”
Hall on his season … Pietrangelo on his pending free agency
Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet: The NHL asked teams this week about arena availability for the month of August.
With potentially $1 billion in revenue in jeopardy, which affects HRR and next seasons salary cap, the NHL and NHLPA will have to negotiate the salary cap.
Taylor Hall when asked if the year had played out like he thought it might.
“When I drove to New Jersey in September, I envisioned a scenario where we were going to fight for a playoff spot all year, and a contract would or wouldn’t get figured out around the trade deadline,” he wrote. “I was really excited for what we had going on there. But I also knew there was a chance that I could be on a different team by the end of the year. Hockey’s a business and you are reminded of that always. And, obviously, is something that no one would ever predict.”
Given what is going on in the world, Hall said that he isn’t as worried about free agency as he is about getting back to playing and getting back to the normal things in life.
St. Louis Blues pending unrestricted free agent defenseman Alex Pietrangelo when asked about how much he is thinking about his hockey future.
“Unfortunately, we all have a lot of time to think right now. If you imply moving to Hawaii and living on an island? Then, yeah, we do all time!”
That’s pretty good, and I’m jealous. The Blues’ captain continues: “Business-wise, we try not to discuss it too much, although it’s hard to ignore. We don’t stress about it, our three little ones keep us busy enough.”