On the Ottawa Senators …
Bruce Garrioch: Forward Chris Neil said that he wants to play next year and needs to talk with GM Pierre Dorion. He isn’t sure if he’s play with another team.
Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Citizen: GM Dorion wants to keep RFA Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Ryan Dzingel but isn’t sure about UFAs Tommy Wingels, Viktor Stalberg, Tom Pyatt, Chris Kelly and Chris Neil.
Head coach Guy Boucher likely wants Pyatt back.
“I will meet personally with Chris Neil and Chris Kelly in the next few weeks to find out what their plans are,” Dorion said. “If they’re in relation with our plans, then we’ll go from there.”
Dorion confirmed they will be protecting Craig Anderson and will look at the possibility of asking Dion Phaneuf to waive his no-movement clause.
Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Citizen: Contract talks with free agent goaltender Mike Condon have not gone that well there is the possibility that Andrew Hammond could be their backup next season.
Dorion admitted that they are not close on a deal with Condon, but talks will continue later this week.
If Condon is looking for $2 million or more a season, it won’t be with the Senators. Most backups are in the $800,000 to $1.4 million range.
“We’re going to talk to his agent at some point in time this week for sure,” Dorion said. “It’s up to him. If he doesn’t like our offer, he can just say, ‘No.’
“We’d like to bring him back. He wants to come back but I’ve been around a long time and you know when talks are going nowhere and they haven’t been very good so far.”
Ottawa Citizen: Unrestricted free agents …
Goalies
Mike Condon
Forwards
Chris Neil
Viktor Stalberg
Chris Kelly
Tommy Wingels
Tom Pyatt
Phil Varone
Max McCormick
Chad Nehring
Casey Bailey
Defence
Brandon Gormley
Restricted Free Agents
Goalies
Matthew O’Connor
Chris Driedger
Forwards
Ryan Dzingel
Jean-Gabriel Pageau
Ryan Rupert
Defence
Jyrki Jokipakka
Patrick Sieloff