On Matt Duchene …
Chris Nichols: Darren Dreger on TSN 1050 on the Matt Duchene trade front: “It’s deathly quiet there.”
On the Minnesota Wild …
Michael Russo: Wild GM Chuck Fletcher and Daniel Winnik‘s agent have begun contract talks. The Wild don’t have a lot of salary cap space. (Winnik was in camp on a PTO)
On the St. Louis Blues …
Jeremy Rutherford: Blues GM Doug Armstrong said that the Blues are looking at all their options to replace Robby Fabbri.
Jeremy Rutherford: Armstrong on Jaromir Jagr: “He’s a great player, someone we’ve talked internally about, and we’ll have to talk about how players complement our style.”
On the Washington Capitals …
J.J. Regan: Capitals defenseman John Carlson will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season. Carlson admits to having thought about it but will try not to thinking about it too much.
“Oh yeah,” Carlson said Tuesday when asked if he had thought about his contract, “But I’m not really going to think too much into that. The season hasn’t even started yet.”
On Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau and the Toronto Maple Leafs …
Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic: Both Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau were free agents this offseason. Thornton remained with the Sharks, and Marleau signed with the Maple Leafs. Some teams wanted to package both Thornton and Marleau.
“It was kind of funny that a bunch of teams wanted us together,’’ Thornton said of the free-agent experience, a first for him and Marleau. “It was flattering to us that they would think so highly of us. Ultimately, I wanted to stay put here. But it was possible that we would have left together.’’
The Maple Leafs were one of the teams that were interested in both.
“For sure, we were talking with Toronto,’’ confirmed Thornton. “But I wanted to stay here, that was the bottom line.’’
Marleau said he knew the Maple Leafs were interested in Thorton and added that they were texting and talking about it.
The Sharks final offer for Marleau was two years and $10 million. He signed with the Maple Leafs for three years and $18.75 million.
