- Chad Graff of the Pioneer Press: Don’t expect a blockbuster trade from the Wild. It is more likely that they’ll flip draft picks or trades a role player or two.
“I would say I’m receiving more calls than dialing right now,” he said.
“There seems to be a lot of tire-kicking, where teams are assessing what may be available from other teams,” he added. “I find there’s a lot of dialogue going into the draft week, trying to set up possibilities during the draft itself.”
“That’s not to say we won’t make a trade,” Fletcher said. “We’re looking at options in free agency. Certainly, there’s a lot of (unrestricted free agents) that may be attractive to us as we get into the shopping period. … So, I don’t know that we’re a team that’s going to make a lot of moves. But we’ll see; you never know.”
There is the possibility that they move up from the No. 18 slot, but could also move back. Matt Moulson, Dany Heatley and Ilya Bryzgalov will most likely go to free agency. Cody McCormick and Clayton Stoner are the most likely to be re-signed.
- Chris Kuc of the Chicago Tribune: Jonathan Toews said that he and Patrick Kane would prefer against to sign their contract extensions together.
“We’ve been kind of going hand-in-hand almost our entire careers,” Toews said in Las Vegas, site of Tuesday night’s NHL Awards where he is a Selke Trophy nominee. “When we came in as rookies we’ve just been included in the same discussion for a lot of things — namely our second contract and probably this time again. The chances of that are good. But at the end of the day (Kane) has got his own needs and his own family, and you have to respect that as well.”
Toews and Kane share the same agent, Pat Brisson, who has been in talks with GM Stan Bowman about extensions for the pair.
- Fluto Shinzawa: Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli will meet with Jarome Iginla in Philadelphia according to agent Don Meehan. Iginla will also meet with other teams while he’s there. May depend on how things progress with the Bruins.
- Dave Stubbs: P.K. Subban’s agent, Don Meehan, said that he’ll meet with Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin at the draft and will set an agenda to move contract extension talks to the next stage.