- Scott Cruickshank of the Calgary Herald: The Flames called the Panthers about the 1st first overall pick.
“Brad’s made the call — and he should make the call to see what the price tag is,” Flames boss Brian Burke said Thursday morning at the Calgary Chamber breakfast at the Hyatt Regency. “But to pay a high price to move up? I don’t think so.”
Burke on draft prospect Nick Ritchie.
“A six-four, 230-pound mean winger with skill. A (Milan) Lucic-type winger. Which I think we can use, last I looked.”
Burke on free agency.
“I will tell you that free agency is not a place where you’re going to get a player that makes a dramatic difference on your team. It used to be that there were three contracts in your career — entry level, then you’d sign a bridge contract, then you’d make the big dough when you got arbitration rights (and closer to unrestricted free agency). Well, thanks to the offer sheet to Dustin Penner, there is no second contract now. Now everyone’s paying the kids coming out of entry-level (deals). So the guys you get on July 1 are spare parts mostly. Or over-the-hill guys who get grossly overpaid in terms of term and money. In a hard-cap system, the killer is term.
“I’ve never viewed (July 1) as a critical time to build my teams anyway. You build championship teams by drafting and trading.”
- Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun: Simmons thinks Kings Mike Richards will be bought out or be traded. He has six-years left on his deal with a $5.75 million salary cap hit.
- Rob Rossi: The NHL has said they wouldn’t have an issue if Pierre McGuire was named as the Penguins GM and continued working the Stanley Cup Final.
- Harvey Fialkov: Source saying the Panthers interviewed Ron Wilson for their head coaching position.
- Hope Smoke: Bob McKenzie: “I think for the most part Jacques Martin has dropped off the radar. Carolina is the only place where he’s an option” … “the Hurricanes are keeping their cards close to the vest” … “There has been a quick reaction by the Hurricanes to say that Ulf Samuelsson isn’t the only option“
- Hope Smoke: Bob McKenzie: “Before the summer is out, the Wings and Babcock could agree to a 5 year extension.” … “It could go the other way and the Wings and Babcock might just play the year out & Blashill is a nice insurance policy” … “The Wings are doing with Blashill what they did with Jim Nill. They’re buying his loyalty” … “Babcock has a contract and he plans on honouring it” … “This goes against the grain in the sense of Babcock being the next coach in Pitt or the future coach in Toronto…””…but, I wouldn’t be surprised if Babcock & the Wings do a long term deal for a lot of money this summer”