On Kris Russell …
Allain Roy: The reports that Kris Russell turned down an offer from the Maple Leafs are false.
Andy Strickland: Russell has options right now to sign somewhere, but he is taking his time to make the right decision. Some teams that are considering him might have to move out some salary.
On the Florida Panthers …
Harvey Fialkov: The Panthers aren’t finished re-signing some of their players yet. After they work out a Jonathan Huberdeau extension, they’ll look to re-sign Derek MacKenzie for a couple more years according to GM Tom Rowe.
Harvey Fialkov: Source saying Panthers close to deal with MacKenzie – two years at $1.3 million per season.
On the Dallas Stars …
Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News: Though he says he’s okay with idea of bringing back both Antti Niemi and Kari Lehtonen and having eight defenseman, Stars GM Jim Nill can’t really think it’s a good idea.
Fixing their goalie situation isn’t easy considering Lehtonen has two years left at $5.9 million, and Niemi has two years left at $4.5 million. If put on waivers, it’s unlikely that anyone would claim them. They might get some interest later on in the season when some of their salary is burned.
On the Philadelphia Flyers …
Sam Carchidi of the Philadelphia Inquirer: Flyers GM Ron Hextall is still working the phones looking to make moves. If they are able to sign Jimmy Vesey when he hits the open market on August 15th, it would be a productive offseason for the Flyers.
Free agent Brandon Pirri would make sense for the Flyers.
If the Flyers are able to find someone to take Matt Read‘s contract, maybe Travis Konecy sticks with the team.
Next offseason Mark Streit and his $5.25 million cap hit will be off the books. If Read is not traded, they could consider buying out the last year of his contract next years – which is a $3.625 million cap hit.
Hextall will have some extra money to go after a free agent next offseason which currently involves the likes of Jamie Benn, Brad Marchand and T.J. Oshie.