On the Buffalo Sabres …
Bill Hoppe: New Sabres GM Jason Botterill said that he wants to have a coach named before the draft.
On the New York Rangers …
Sean Hartnett: Rangers head coach Alain Vigneault: “We’re definitely looking at bringing in another young defenseman next year.”
Justin Tasch of the NY Daily News: Five offseason questions for the New York Rangers.
1. Do the Rangers break up their core?
2. Do they buy out a defenseman? Dan Girardi and Marc Staal are buyout candidates.
3. What should be made of the individual playoff disappointments?
4. What should they do in free agency? Brendan Smith is a UFA. Do they go after Kevin Shattenkirk? Would need to clear out some cap space for Shattenkirk. Mika Zibanejad, Oscar Lindberg and Jesper Fast are RFAs.
5. How can they fix their power play?
On the San Jose Sharks …
Kevin Kurz: Wonder if the Sharks would be interested in Ilya Kovalchuk. From what has heard, Kovalchuk and DeBoer had a good relationship when both were in New Jersey.
Paul Gackle of the San Jose Mercury News: Source saying that the Sharks are closing to re-signing pending RFAs Joonas Donskoi and Melker Karlsson to multi-year deals.
Pending Sharks UFAs include Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau and Micheal Haley. Chris Tierney is a RFA.
The Sharks are looking to get Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Martin Jones signed to contract extensions this offseason. Both would be UFAs after next season.
On Chris Lee …
Darren Dreger: Chris Lee (playing for Team Canada at the World Championships) is looking to return to North America next season. He’s good with the puck, calms things down and is good on the power play.
At 37, Chris Lee’s projected production and shot rate is basically identical to Jake Gardiner‘s stat line from this season. pic.twitter.com/WMxAI7VWpm
— Zac Urback (@Zac_Urback) May 11, 2017