Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic: The Nashville Predators and pending UFA forward Filip Forsberg have started negotiations again but get the sense the gap is still there. There is still lots of time. Believe the sides will eventually work out a deal.
The Calgary Flames will aggressively try to re-sign forward Johnny Gaudreau and they may want to know sooner than later if a deal can be done – possibly in the next couple of weeks. The Flames also have to sign RFA forward Matthew Tkachuk. Gaudreau and his camp may want to see what options are out there but the Flames may not want to wait that long. Trading his rights before free agency opens is an option so a team can offer the eighth year.
- NHL Watcher: LeBrun said on TSN that if Johnny Gaudreau hits the open market, to keep an eye on the New Jersey Devils with the Seattle Kraken as a wild-card team. The Kraken plan on being aggressive in the free agent market this offseason.
- NHL Watcher: LeBrun notes that the Devils lose P.K. Subban‘s cap hit but still need to re-sign Jesper Bratt and that Jack Hughes‘ cap hit jumps to $8 million.
The door for Paul Stastny to return to Winnipeg may be open, he may want to see what options are out there.
The Pittsburgh Penguins and Evgeni Malkin continue to talk, with Malkin’s camp presenting a few concepts. Believe a deal will eventually get done.
The Dallas Stars and John Klingberg haven’t had any recent talks but probably will in the next couple of weeks. The sides have an interest in what each other has to say. Klingberg would like to stay but on a fair contract. Montreal Canadiens Jeff Petry could be fallback option for the Stars if Klingberg leaves.
Talks between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Kris Letang continue. Letang is 35-years-old so the Penguins want to be careful with term.
The agent for Ilya Mikheyev, Dan Milstein, plans on speaking with the Toronto Maple Leafs in a couple of weeks. Mikheyev could possibly get $3.5 million on the open market and the Maple Leafs may not be able to go that high.
Dylan Larkin is eligible to sign a contract extension this offseason. Any talks have been preliminary to this point but there believe there is interest from both sides to talk further this offseason.