Senators-Stone talking extension … Senators shopping Duchene
Sportsnet: Contract extension talks between the Ottawa Senators and Mark Stone may have picked up over the past couple days according to Elliotte Friedman.
“The word in the past couple of days has been that both the Senators and Stone’s representatives have re-engaged and they’re trying to see if they can find common ground to extend the player,” said Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman during the Headlines segment of Saturday’s Hockey Night in Canada broadcast.”
Nick Kypreos adds that the “structure and the signing bonus continues to be an issue.”
Friedman says that the Senators are now quietly shopping fellow pending UFA Matt Duchene.
“The word around the league is that Ottawa has quietly begun to put his name out there, see what the offers are — they’re testing the market on No. 95.”
Jets and Golden Knights may have interest in Stone
Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun: Everyone by now knows that Ottawa Senators GM Pierre Dorion and some of his scouting staff are with him in Winnipeg. The Jets have been tied to Mark Stone and Matt Duchene.
The Jets have been one of the more aggressive teams that are looking to improve ahead of the deadline and have been pushing for Stone.
The Senators are still trying to re-sign their pending UFAs but know they might have to trade them.
The asking price for Stone will be high and they’ll have competition. The Vegas Golden Knights are one of the other teams that have some interest.
The Jets would like to get a deal for Stone done soon than later. If they can’t get that deal done, they could turn to Duchene and Ryan Dzingel.
It sounds like the Senators want three assets for Stone or Duchene, possibly a conditional fourth asset.