Friedman’s 30 Thoughts …
Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet: Though the rumors likely won’t go away, the Canucks denied that Dale Tallon could be heading to Vancouver.
Teams can talk to pending UFAs at 12:01 am ET on June 25th. Teams can talk to RFAs at 12:01 am ET on June 28th. Signings can happen at noon on July 1st.
The Blue Jackets at No. 3 could draft Jesse Puljujarvi, or they could trade down to collect some more assets and draft a center like Logan Brown.
The Oilers have had some calls on their No. 4 pick. They could look to drop back a bit in the draft.
The Ducks and Flames are being patient in their coaching search. The Ducks have met with Paul MacLean and are expected to meet with Travis Green, Luke Richardson and Mike Yeo. Randy Carlyle might not meet with the Ducks, but he could with the Flames. Yeo is also in consideration for the Flames. GM Brad Treliving could meet with Devils assistant Geoff Ward who is also at the World Championships.
The Coyotes are still looking for an assistant GM. No evidence that the Coyotes could still be in on Stars Les Jackson. Blues Dave Taylor has worked with Dave Tippett in the past.
One GM at the World Championships who is trying to sign free agent Vadim Shipachyov: “I’m trying like everyone else.” Shipachyov is the leading scorer with 13 points so far.
The Sabres, Blackhawks and Canucks are among the teams interested in Czech defenseman Michal Kempny.
Evgenii Dadonov could be looking to return to the NHL.
The Red Wings and Panthers could be waiting on Alexander Radulov. Conflicting reports on if the Avalanche are interested or not.
OHL free agent defenseman Jacob Graves could get some interest. The London Knights defenseman will be playing in the Memorial Cup that starts this weekend.
Post-Dispatch’s Jeremy Rutherford said that the last contract talks between the Blues and David Backes had them at three-years and $5.5 million per season. There may be some room to go four years at $6 million. Talks will start up again after the season.
There was small progress made between the Blackhawks and Andrew Shaw, but there are no new talks scheduled.
There are plans for the Bruins and Loui Eriksson to talk again as they look to find common ground.
Though it’s possible the Ducks trade one of their defensemen, there is some thought that they could bring them back on qualifying offers – Hampus Lindholm and Sami Vatanen – if they can’t sign them to long-term deals.
Think that the Capitals may have been interested in David Backes during the season, but then Blues GM Doug Armstrong said Backes wasn’t going anywhere. The Capitals will look for a top-nine forward to help out their bottom two lines. They don’t have a lot of cap room.