The Boston Bruins are among teams interested in Marcus Johansson
David Pagnotta: The Boston Bruins are still interested in re-signing Marcus Johansson. Have been told that several teams are also seriously interested.
Blue Jackets looking at Zuccarello. Will they go to five years?
Aaron Portzline: The Columbus Blue Jackets are looking at Mats Zuccarello. He’ll be 32 at the start of next season and is looking for a five-year deal.
The Calgary Flames, Matthew Tkachuk and other RFAs
Kristen Anderson of the Calgary Sun: The Calgary Flames locking up RFA Matthew Tkachuk long-term may not be a quick deal to make. Not have him sign has trickle down impact on everything else they can/can’t do.
“It’s just math,” reasoned Treliving. “We’ve got ‘X’ amount to spend. Are we going to go out and sign a bunch of high dollar UFA’s? It’s safe to say we aren’t going to be fishing in those waters. But you also still have to look at ways to help your team. Hamstrung? I wouldn’t use that word. We’ve got Matthew to sign and we will try and do some other things to try and help our team. But we also know there’s only ‘X’ amount we can spend under the cap system.
“Until you have your RFA’s put to bed, you can’t go out and use that money. Matthew’s situation is a very important one for us and that takes priority one, as well as our other RFA’s. You basically try to juggle it and see if there are other things you can do.”
GM Brad Treliving has a long list of other RFAs to deal with – David Rittich, Sam Bennett, Spencer Foo (signed KHL deal), Ryan Lomberg, Andrew Mangiapane, Alan Quine and Rinat Valiev. Bennett and Quine are arbitration eligible.
The Flames didn’t qualify Curtis Lazar but they are still talking with him.
“Right now, we’re still talking with Curtis,” Treliving said. “Not saying we won’t get anything done but we’re hopeful we can come to an agreement.”