Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News: The Stars have been willing to eat $2.5 million of Sergei Gonchar’s $5 million salary in a trade, but have been unsuccessful so far this offseason. Heika had thought that the Senators and Penguins could take a flier on Gonchar at the reduced rate. The Stars may be wondering if it would have been better to buy Gonchar out than attempting to find a trade partner for him.
The Fourth Period: The Stars were believed to be interested in Michael Del Zotto before he signed with the Flyers. They may still be looking at trading for a defenseman, but nothing is imminent.
Luke Fox of SportNet: Top 10 9 remaining free agents: 10. Jamie McBain 9. Sami Salo 8. Andrei Loktionov 7. Dustin Penner 6. Saku Koivu 5. Devin Setoguchi 4. Martin Brodeur 3. Tomas Vokoun2. Michael Del Zotto 1. Daniel Alfredsson.
Mike Halford of Pro Hockey Talk: Joni Pitkanen said in a Finnish interview that the he’s a “long way” from being able to play again. He suffered a severely broken heel missing all of last season, and it hasn’t improved much. He hasn’t even started skating yet.
Szymon Szemberg: Daniel Alfredsson was on Swedish radio and said that he’ll be on the ice next week. How his back holds up will depend on what he does this season.
Will DePaoli of Inside Pittsburgh Sports: Penguins 2014 1st round draft pick Kasperi Kapanen hopes to make the Penguins this season. Five scouts don’t think he’s ready for the NHL, though GM Jim Rutherford and some within the Penguins organization think that he might be.
Steven Marcus: Source saying that Andrew Barroway is no longer negotiating to buy the Islanders.
