On Jimmy Vesey …
Joe Haggerty of CSNNE: Two sources have said that the Boston Bruins are not one of the top three teams in the running for Jimmy Vesey.
Vesey did say in an interview last month that the Bruins are on his short list of teams that he’ll speak with.
“I’ve said it all along that Boston is definitely on my list of teams that I’d like to talk to,” said Vesey, who finished with 24 goals and 46 points in 33 games with the Crimson as a senior last season, during that interview with CSN. “It’s a team that I’ve rooted for all my life, and it’s a team that I watched win the Stanley Cup in 2011. I’ll definitely be meeting with Boston in August.”
One of the sources said that the top three teams are now the Chicago Blackhawks, New York Rangers and New Jersey Devils.
The Blackhawks have made a push recently with GM Stan Bowman and coach Joel Quenneville going to watch Vesey in the Summer Pro League in Foxboro.
Adrian Dater: Hearing that as of now it is coming down the Blackhawks and Maple Leafs for Vesey.
Stephen Harris of the Boston Herald: Many teams would love to bring in Jimmy Vesey, but he’s finalizing his list of no more than six teams that he’d like to talk with. Vesey met with his family and agents to go over the teams on his list.
“Just to kind of finalize our thoughts,” Vesey’s agent, ex-Boston University goalie Peter Fish, said yesterday at the Beantown Summer Classic tournament here at New England Sports Center. “We’ve all been running around doing stuff this summer, but we’re finally getting down to the nitty-gritty.”
One ‘very well-informed’ scout believes the Blackhawks, Rangers and Bruins will be the three finalists.
The Sabres own his rights. The Maple Leafs have been widely speculated, with the Devils being a darkhorse.
“What Jimmy wants to do is see it through,” said Fish. “He’s wanted to go to free agency and he’s going to see it through. There’s about 4-5 teams other than Buffalo that he wants to hear from. And then after that he’s going to make a decision. I think he’d love for the Bruins to be one of those teams. I assume that we will be taking a call from them.
“We’ve looked at depth charts with some teams and talked about them. . . . “There’s obviously a lot of thought that goes into it: The city, the coach, the GM, the salary structure, how a team treats their players in the second and third contracts down the road.”