On the Dallas Stars …
Mark Stepneski: Jim Nill said yesterday that they have spoken with restricted free agent Valeri Nichushkin – just part of the negotiation process.
Mike Heika: The Stars have eight defenseman on one-way deals, so guessing that Julius Honka will have to wait another year.
On some remaining restricted free agents …
Chris Nichols of Today’s Slapshot: Elliotte Friedman was on the NHL Network talking about some of the remaining free agents.
Friedman thinks that Calgary Flames would like to get Johnny Gaudreau signed to something similar to Sean Monahan. Gaudreau’s offensive numbers will probably put him at a higher number.
“So I think he’s looking higher. I think he’s looking for term. I think the team is looking for term. I think what Gaudreau is probably saying is, ‘Well, if you want to do term, it’s got to be a pretty big number.’ I think they’ve talked a little bit in the last couple of days since Monahan was signed. Nobody is really discussing it, but I’ve got no information that anything is really close.”
Friedman says that things are very quiet with regards to Nikita Kucherov and the Tampa Bay Lightning. Kucherov’s agent Scott Greenspun isn’t saying much and he knows that leaking info isn’t a good idea when dealing with GM Steve Yzerman.
“I think what you’ve got there is you’ve got a situation where Tampa’s unrestricted free agents to be, Stamkos and Hedman, have kind of set the high bar. I’m really curious to see how close Tampa is going to get to that if they want to go long-term with Kucherov. I think he’s a guy who you’re looking at when he hits unrestricted free agency, he’s going to have a big number. I think Tampa is going to do with him the same thing they kind of did with Hedman and Stamkos. They’re going to say, ‘Look, this is where we’re looking at and this is where it’s going to be.’ I just think one thing they’ve proven is that’s the way they’re going to go, and that’s the way it’s going to be for Kucherov at this particular time.”
The Anaheim Ducks still have two restricted free agents they need to sign – Hampus Lindholm and Rickard Rakell. Friedman is surprised that Rakell hasn’t been signed by now. Friedman on Lindholm.
“The Lindholm one, I’ve heard for a while now that that one was tricky. And that there were a lot of different variables there, including a change in agent that we saw last season. They were able to get one of those deals done with the change of agent, but it ended up being a trade to Toronto, right? Frederik Andersen. So I think it says to me that they’re still having a lot of issues trying to pull it down. And again, at this point in time, I’ve got no information that anything is close.
