Bruins trying to extend Hall with the Maple Leafs having an interest as well
TSN: Darren Dreger said that the Boston Bruins are talking to Taylor Hall‘s camp about a contract extension, but adds the Toronto Maple Leafs are among the teams interested in Hall as well.
“(Bruins general manager Don Sweeney has) engaged in discussions about an extension for Taylor Hall with his agent Darren Ferris. This shouldn’t come as breaking news, there was interest from the Boston standpoint prior to making the trade with the Buffalo Sabres.
“But there’s outside interest as well, including from the Toronto Maple Leafs, which may surprise some. Toronto has interest, I’m sure, if they can’t get Zach Hyman signed, or depending on what happens with Freddy Andersen.
“There are a lot of teams with interest in Taylor Hall but he’d like to extend his time in Boston.”
Keys to the offseason for the Tampa Bay Lightning
Emily Kaplan and Greg Wyshynski: Taking a look at some of the offseason questions the Tampa Bay Lightning are facing.
More salary cap gymnastics – The Lightning are already $5 million over the salary cap for next season with 19 players under contract. The expansion draft will help them get rid of a contract. GM Julien BriseBois could look to make a side deal.
The Lightning could look to trade Tyler Johnson again. They’ve been unsuccessful in moving his $5 million through 2023-24 contract so far.
Other trade candidates could include Alex Killorn ($4.45 million through 2022-23), Ondrej Palat ($5.3 million through next season) and Yanni Gourde ($5.16 million through 2024-25).
How to approach the expansion draft – They’ll lose a good player but get the cap relief. A bold move would be leaving defenseman Ryan McDonagh unprotected for the expansion draft. One of Gourde, Killorn and Palat could be lost. RFA defenseman Cal Foote could be of interest to the Seattle Kraken.