Kessel and Geno are friends according to Phil
Catherine Silverman: Phil Kessel when ask about the Evgeni Malkin report out of Pittsburgh (that Malkin wanted out if Kessel was going to be back): “I don’t think that’s true. Me and Geno are friends, we went to dinners… so it is what it is.”
A big gap for the Rangers and DeAngelo
Larry Brooks: Have been told that there is a big gap between the New York Rangers and restricted free agent Anthony DeAngelo. It doesn’t appear that The Rangers want to move off of the $925,000.
Flyers and Konecny not close
Bob McKenzie: (as of yesterday) the Philadelphia Flyers and restricted free agent forward Travis Konecny are not close on a deal.
Dave Isaac: After the Flyers re-signed Ivan Provorov, they have just over $6.5 million in salary cap space. That is plenty to get Konecny signed and some extra space to use later on if need be.
Jordan Hall of NBC Sports: Flyers coach Alain Vigneault isn’t really happy that Konecny isn’t in camp.
“I’m very disappointed that T.K. is not here,” Alain Vigneault said after his first practice leading the Flyers. “It’s the start of a new era, a new group, I felt that it was very important for everybody to be here.”
Konecny is looking for a “longer-term deal right now” according to GM Chuck Fletcher. A long-term deal might make sense for the Flyers as well.
“Still have a ways to go. I don’t really know how to characterize it, both sides are trying. It’s been a little quiet recently, so we’ll look to find a solution that will break the impasse.”
The Flyers and Konecny’s camp are differing on both money and term.
“Both,” Fletcher said. “They have some specific demands with respect to term. We’re trying to work with them in that regard. We’re a little more flexible, I think we would look at a two- or three-year deal or a longer-term deal, and they prefer a longer-term deal right now, so certainly that makes it a little bit more difficult when you narrow the scope of length of term you’re negotiating on. We’ll continue to work at it.”