- Benjamin Hochman of the Denver Post: Josh Kroenke, the Avs president, on if he sees the Avalanche making a big free-agent splash with offseason:
“We’re always looking for ways to improve our team,” he said. “I think the players we’ve had this year have done an un- believable job. They play every night, don’t take nights off, guys take pride in the logo they’re wearing — and those are the guys that we want. The future does look bright; we have a really exciting young core of players. And our cap is very well structured right now, and could go a lot of different ways, but we’ll continue to be patient.
“And, if the opportunity comes along where we can get a guy who can put us at another level, it’s something we would definitely talk about. But we’re not going to say something just to say something.”
- Gary Lawless of the Winnipeg Free Press: Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff will have a busy offseason:
1. Hire a coach.
2. Solve that pesky goaltending problem.
3. Sign Olli Jokinen or begin to look at replacement options.
4. Figure out whether Alex Burmistrov is ready to come back to Winnipeg, and if so, how to make it happen.
5. Decide whether it’s time to shake up this underachieving core and swap out one of the Jets big names.
- Hope Smoke: Eric Francis: “Burke will hire someone experienced like David Poile as the GM in Calgary” … “Burke made it very clear to me yesterday that he is going to wait until he speaks to every single candidate & guy on his list” … “That may cause the Flames GM position to not get filled until after the draft. When all the candidates will be available” … “Feaster was a dead man walking in Calgary. There are a lot of people who believe Feaster’s days of being a GM in the NHL are over”
- James Murphy of XN Sports: A Maple Leafs source said that Dion Phaneuf is not looked upon as a lead in the Leafs dressing room. His seven-year deal at $7 million starts next season, so he would be difficult to trade. The could retain some salary. Teams like the Islanders, Avalanche, Oilers or maybe the Flames might be interested.
