- Hope Smoke: Nick Kypreos: “The latest name that is floating around for coach of the Panthers is Marc Crawford“
- Hope Smoke: Darren Dreger: “The meeting that took place in Vegas between Shanahan, Nonis and Carlyle was very one sided” … “Carlyle sat down & Shanahan told him: we’re removing your assistants & we expect you to coach out the remainder of your term.” … “Which was a one year deal. Carlyle’s tried to fight for his assistants and when he realized that was fruitless.” … “He said the only way he’d accept this was if he got additional term.”
- Hope Smoke: Elliotte Friedman: “I think Hextall and Futa were very high on the Canucks list. From what I can tell it’s Benning’s job to lose” … “Gilman internally is a really strong candidate. I don’t know if Fenton has interviewed yet. Some other candidates to pin down” … “As for Washington, I think the search is on the back burner while the basketball team is still in the playoffs.” … “Either the Capitals are not doing any interviews or waiting to make an announcement until after the basketball team is out”
- James Mirtle of the Globe and Mail: Some quotes from recently fired Leafs assistant coach Scott Gordon.
“When Brendan came in, I felt 100 per cent there was going to be a change,” … “And it was very likely that it could be all of us. I just had a feeling that that was going to happen.”
Gordon said the loss of Leo Komarov hurt the Leafs, as well as the injuries to Jonathan Bernier, Dave Bolland and Mark Fraser.
“There’s this perception that Randy doesn’t like Jake Gardiner, and it’s comical,” Gordon said. “I can’t tell you how many times that Randy has said that the thought of trading Jake can’t even be discussed until he’s played 300 games .
“He personally thinks it takes 300 games for a defenceman to get to the point where you can make a decision on them.”