Predators and Forsberg dug in
TSN: Chris Johnston on Insider Trading said that there hasn’t been much progress between the Nashville Predators and pending UFA forward Filip Forsberg.
“The sides have had an ongoing dialogue, but they are dug in at this point in time. And so as we get closer to July 13th, a career long Predator who loves his time in Nashville may face the choice that he has to go to the open market.”
2023 NHL unrestricted free agents
Luke Fox of Sportsnet: Looking ahead to potential 2023 NHL free agents.
Top four defensemen – Shayne Gostisbehere, MacKenzie Weegar, Matt Dumba, Travis Sanheim, Brian Dumoulin, and Artem Zub.
Goaltenders – Tristan Jarry, Frederik Andersen, and Cam Talbot.
Forwards – Nathan MacKinnon, Jonathan Huberdeau, Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, Ryan O’Reilly, Vladimir Tarasenko, Dylan Larkin, Tyler Bertuzzi, and David Pastrnak.
The Senators are looking at every option
Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun: The Ottawa Senators have completed their scouting meets. Senators GM Pierre Dorion said you always wish/want things.
“There are certain positions where the depth pool is higher than others. If you look at every team, no matter how good they are, they all wish they could add a top-four defenceman.
“How do you get a top-four defenceman? You get it through free agency or through trade. There are some scenarios that work better for some teams that they do for others. With us, we always have to think we’ve got so many good, young prospects. Whether it’s one, two or three years down the road, we’d like to sign some of those players to longer-term deals.
“We always look at that and we can’t have our hands tied. But we want to take a step forward as a team whether it’s adding through trades, free agency or internally. We’ve talked about every possible scenario.”
The Senators have gone through almost every NHL and AHL player, building free agent lists and looking at teams that may need to move out salary.
The Sens have been linked to Minnesota Wild RFA forward Kevin Fiala, and Florida Panthers pending UFA forward Claude Giroux.