Cam Talbot is likely not back with the Ottawa Senators next season
Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun: The Ottawa Senators had contract extension talks with goaltender Cam Talbot back in December, but the sides weren’t close and talks were put on hold.
Talbot carries a $3.5 million cap hit and is looking for a raise. The Senators were willing to go two years for the 35-year-old netminder.
Since the sides shelved talks, Talbot has missed a lot of time with injuries. There is a good chance now that Talbot won’t be back.
Will Buffalo Sabres captain Kyle Okposo be back next season?
Lance Lysowski of the Buffalo News: What’s Kyle Okposo’s future with the Buffalo Sabres?
** NHLRumors.com transcription
“This is one I’ve gotten quite a bit recently. Okposo of course is a pending unrestricted free agent. If the Sabres chose not to bring him back, he’d be free to sign elsewhere in July. I do not anticipate that happening.
I see Kyle Okposo returning on a short-term deal. Of course the camp hit would be lower than the $6+ million he’s making in the final year of that long-term deal that he signed with Buffalo back in the summer of 2016.
I know this one comes up because of course he’s the captain and everybody wants to know if that bottom-six is going to be reconfigured next season. I still think that Okposo with what he does on and off the ice, that includes just the work rate that he sets for the rest of the group in practices with how hard he works. You need players like that when you have such a young team.
Everybody’s going to point to the goals, and of course those are down, but his role is far different than what it was a year ago when he scored 20. So I still think that he has plenty to give and the perfect kind of guy. He’s good defensively. Hard on the forecheck. You need that in your bottom-six. Plus, he can put the puck in the net. That’s sort of hard to find when you’re looking at veteran with that skill set.”