The Penguins seemed to set at most positions except the left side …
Jonathan Bombulie of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: The Pittsburgh Penguins appear to be set on the blue line, in net, at center, and on the right side.
Left wing might be one area GM Jim Rutherford will look to improve on.
Left wingers Max Pacioretty and Jeff Skinner are two players rumored to be on the trade block.
The Penguins could hold pat and slide one of Matt Cullen, Riley Sheahan, or Derick Brassard to the wing.
“We feel comfortable with the lineup we have right now going into camp and we’ll take it from there,” Rutherford said. “With that being said, at this point in July, sometimes the odd player slips through the cracks. Thought they were getting signed on July 1. We’ll stay in the loop on that if we can find somebody that we feel can help our team. Other than that, that’s about it.”
Oilers Darnell Nurse looking for a short-term deal …
Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal: The Oilers don’t have a lot of salary cap space to fill out their roster $4.98 million – to re-sign restricted free agent defenseman Darnell Nurse and possibly another forward.
A long-term deal doesn’t appear to be in the cards for Nurse and the sides will likely settle on a two-year bridge deal.
“They’ve sent us a proposal and we’ll see where that goes,” said Thun. “I don’t see with their cap space being what it is that they can entice us with much term.”
Nurse’s camp likely won’t be wanting less than $3 million a season, with the Oilers possibly using Blue Jackets Markus Nuutivaara’s $2.7 million as a comparable.
“If they’ve got $5 million in cap space (now), it’s not going to be a long-term deal,” said Thun.
A long-term deal for Nurse may have cost the Oilers over $5 million per season.