On the Montreal Canadiens …
Marc Dumont: Renaud Lavoie is reporting that the Montreal Canadiens are interested in re-signing Mike Brown and Victor Bartley.
On the Jimmy Vesey, Minnesota Wild, Edmonton Oilers and Dallas Stars …
Fluto Shinzawa of the Boston Globe: The Toronto Maple Leafs and Boston Bruins remain the favorites to sign Jimmy Vesey after August 15th. The Bruins would like a left winger to complement Brad Marchand and Matt Beleskey.
“Once we get closer to the date, we’ll definitely be looking at rosters, prospect pools, and talent,” Vesey said. “I’m definitely someone who would like to stay on top of that and have a good idea of what I want to do in August.”
The Minnesota Wild have depth on the blueline, the Edmonton Oilers do not. The Wild could be interested in Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.
It would take some maneuvering for Dallas Stars GM Jim Nill to bring in Jimmy Howard and move Kari Lehtonen or Antti Niemi.
On the Dallas Stars …
Larry Brooks of the NY Post: The Stars were in on Cam Talbot last year but decided not to make the move, which they may now be regretting. They need a No. 1 goalie, but “No. Henrik Lundqvist is not being traded to Dallas. So stop.”
Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News: Captain Jamie Benn has a year left on his contract and hopes they can get a contract extension done this offseason.
“Going into the last year of your contract, you don’t want it to be a distraction for your team,” Benn said. “I’ll let Jim (Nill) and my agent try to figure that out.”
Comparable for Benn will likely be Anze Kopitar’s eight-year, $80 million contract. Stars GM Jim Nill expects to talk with Benn and his agent soon.
“I’ve got to meet with Jamie over the next week or 10 days. Going to start discussing that and then I’ll get a hold of his people,” Nill said. “It’s something we’d like to start up, if it’s something we can get done in July, August.”
The Stars expect 2015 draft pick Denis Gurianov to play in North America next year.