- Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun: The Kings have offered Marian Gaborik a three year deal worth $15 million. By keeping Mike Richards and attempting to re-sign Gaborik, it will likely come at the expense of Willie Mitchell or Matt Greene.
- Larry Brooks of the NY Post: The $6.67 million savings they received from buyout out Brad Richards will mostly go to retaining their Stanley Cup finalist roster, and likely not to acquire a Paul Stastny or trading for a Jason Spezza, Joe Thornton or Eric Staal. They have pending free agents in Derick Brassard, Mats Zuccarello and Benoit Pouliot who could double their combined salaries from $5.65 million to $12 million. Brassard could get between $4.5 and $5 million. Zuccarello could ask for $4 million on a multi-year deal. Pouliot could get at least $2.5 million. The only way the Rangers would go after one of the big centers would be if they felt Brassard wasn’t a No. 1 center they could win the Cup with. The Rangers hope to retain Anton Stralman, around $4 million on a three or four year deal. They are expected to qualify Justin Falk.
- Adrian Dater of the Denver Post: Patrick Roy:
“Nothing is changing for us. We haven’t changed our approach,” Roy said of the team’s overall blueprint. “We put together a plan, as far as salary structure, long and short term, but we also have a plan for our team and what kind of players we’d like to have. Obviously, we have to give the time for these guys to develop. We certainly don’t want to go on the fast track. Time will tell, but I think right now we still need to remain very patient.”
Contract talks with Paul Stastny will start in the next couple days. Other teams can talk to Stastny on Wednesday. Roy said they have some potential targets in mind if they become available. The Avs could look at Willie Mitchell, Matt Greene, Matt Niskanen, Brooks Orpik and Dan Boyle.
- William DePaoli: Marc Crawford removes himself from the Penguins coaching search and Todd Nelson emerges as a candidate according to a source.
- Gary Lawless: Lawless thinks the Evander Kane trade talk is a over-hyped right now, but his name is out there. GM Kevin Cheveldayoff would want a young top-six forward or a young top-four defenseman in return. The player coming back would have to coming into his prime and locked up.
