On the Arizona Coyotes …
Craig Morgan of Arizona Sports: Source saying the Arizona Coyotes and free agent Radim Vrbata are close to finalizing a one-year deal.
An announcement could come today.
The Coyotes desperately needed a top-six right winger.
On the Colorado Avalanche …
Terry Frei of the Denver Post: Frei’s thoughts on the Patrick Roy situation: “Roy started to feel like a coach. A coach only. He was starting to feel like men he had played for who might or might not have been good behind the bench but had little influence on the organizational decisions about who was on his roster. He thought it would be different, working with a fellow Hall of Famer and teammate in a market where he paraded twice. It would have been similar in Montreal, but not exactly the same. Did he quit on the Avs? Sure, he did. As coach. Because he thought he had been fired as a VP.”
Sakic has said that his three assistants are not candidates for the head coaching vacancy. It might be tough for them to get permission to talk to other teams coaches at this stage of the offseason.
On the Ottawa Senators …
Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun: The Senators are close to being finished this offseason. They still need to get RFA defenseman Cody Ceci signed, and they’d like to find another defenseman.
Clarke MacArthur, who was out most of last season with post-concussion syndrome, is ready to go.
“He’s the piece we missed the most last year,” Dorion said without hesitation. “We missed his on-ice presence, we missed his off-ice presence. Having a healthy Clarke MacArthur from Day 1 — who could have played last year he had clearance from the doctors —will be a big thing for us.
“It solidifies our top six and it solidifies our top nine, where Guy decides to play Zack (Smith) (Jean-Gabriel) Pageau and Lazar, however, (Boucher) decides to do it, I really feel comfortable with our group of forwards. We were ninth in scoring and with an improved power play we’ll be even better than that.”