On Cody Franson …
Rick Dhaliwal: The agent for Cody Franson said that interest in the free agent defenseman is picking up and that he should sign a new deal in the next few weeks. The Vancouver Canucks are not interested.
On Roman Polak …
Lance Hornby: The agent for Roman Polak, Allan Walsh, said that his recovery is going well and that he expects Polak to sign with an NHL team soon.
On Jason Demers …
Luke Fox of Sportsnet: At the start of free agency Pierre LeBrun tweeted that Florida Panthers defenseman Jason Demers nixed a trade to the Vancouver Canucks. Demers has an eight-team no-trade list. Demers when asked about LeBrun’s report.
“I can’t really comment on that. It is what it is, and Pierre’s got his sources. He’s going to tweet his stuff. That’s between my agent and me and Dale, but I’m going to camp right now a Panther,” Demers said after an on-ice training session.
“I’m going in ready for the season. I’m going to be a part of them for four more years. I have to make sure I have a way better year than last year, as a team and personally.”
On Henrik Zetterberg and the Detroit Red Wings …
Ted Kulfan of the Detroit News: The soon-to-be 37-year old Henrik Zetterberg has four years left on his 12-year contract at a salary cap hit of $6.083 million. His salary this season is $7 million, but then it drops to $3.35 million next year, and $1 million in the final two years.
“the only reason why we wrote such a long contact was because of the payroll. It is quite obvious that you try to fool the system. Actually, I may have two years left, but I have also learned to take one year at a time. But I will probably not play until then (2020-21 season, when the contract expires).”
If he retired with two years left on his deal, the Red Wings would have a salary cap recapture penalty of about $5.5 million. If he went on the LTIR for the final two years, there would be no recapture penalty.