Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet: Montreal Canadiens owner Geoff Molson may have a contract extension offer for GM Marc Bergevin, who has one year left on his deal. Bergevin has said it’s been a real tough 16 months and one source said that he was burnt out and may want a break when his contract runs out.
The Canadiens and pending UFA Phillip Danault maybe $500,000 to $750,000 per season apart on a multi-year extension. He averaged the most minutes per game among the forwards during the playoffs.
- John Lu: Danault admitted that their contract talks that were stalled earlier were related to potential usage: “I was scared (Suzuki) and (Kotkaniemi) would take more minutes but if you see around the league you need two-way centres … I found my game. I know what I am and I know what I can give.”
- John Lu: Danault also admits that the leaked contract terms really affected him: “I wasn’t playing that good; I wasn’t playing my best hockey at that time. It was tough mentally but I got way stronger mentally and I believe that’s why I could play that type of (shutdown) hockey in the playoffs.”
Would expect Dominique Ducharme to lose the interim tag. Alexandre Burrows should end up as the coach of Laval in the AHL.
Eric Engels: Canadiens pending UFA forward Corey Perry: “Yes, I intend to play hockey next year. There’s still a lot of good hockey left in me, and I would love to come back to experience Montreal for what it’s like really being in Montreal.”
TSN: When the season was about to start, the Montreal Canadiens put Perry on waivers. His agent, Pat Morris, asked some teams not to claim him according to a report Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic.
“So I did call three teams that looked like they would have the need for him, to ask them not to pick him up on waivers. It wasn’t a threat to retire or anything, but basically ‘can you adhere to who Corey Perry is. If your thought is to pick him up on waivers, please don’t.’
“Two of the teams said, ‘We were going to put in a claim until this call. We’ll respect his career.”
