- Aaron Portzline of the Columbus Dispatch: A couple weeks ago the Blue Jackets and RFA Ryan Johansen were making some progress on a bridge deal, but were about $3 million apart. Two weeks later, not much progress has been made. When asked on the weekend if they were still far apart on a deal, one of the parties said in a text, “hectares.” Training camp starts on September 18th. Johansen is planning to return to Columbus later this month. If the Blue Jackets sign Johansen to a two- or three-year deal, he’ll still be a RFA, but will have arbitration rights. A four-year deal would put him into unrestricted free agency.
- Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun: If the Maple Leafs pair Dion Phaneuf with Roman Polak, Phaneuf would be moved back to the left side. The Leafs started talking with Daniel Winnik on July 1st but he was looking for too much money. Hearing that Joe Bowen won’t be calling Leafs games on TV, only radio.
- Shelly Anderson of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Penguins GM Jim Rutherford last week on Brandon Sutter:
“The best way to characterize the process is it’s moving in the right direction,” Rutherford said. “I would suspect by next week we might be able to get something done.”
- Kevin McGran of the Toronto Star: Some UFA goaltenders that are still available: Martin Brodeur, J.S. Giguere, Ilya Bryzgalov, Tim Thomas, Tomas Vokoun, Cal Heeter and David LeNeveu.
Jeff Marek: Blue Jackets 1st round pick Sonny Milano will play in with Plymouth (OHL) this season instead of going to Boston College.Adam Kimelman: Milano confirms that he’ll be going to Boston College in the fall.
- Corey Pronman: The Maple Leafs are working on signing 2014 1st round pick, William Nylander.