On the San Jose Sharks …
Kevin Kurz of CSN Bay Area: Joe Thornton’s brother/agent told ESPN that he wants another three-year deal after his latest three year expires after the season. Thornton wants to remain in San Jose, and the Sharks appear to in a position to contend for a couple more seasons.
With the expansion draft coming in June, it may better serve the organization to re-sign Thornton after the draft so they won’t have to protect him.
Thornton is 37-years old, but if they let him walk, they don’t really have anyone ready to fill his shoes.
On the St. Louis Blues …
Dan Rosen of NHL.com: Kevin Shattenkirk interview. Shattenkirk is a pending unrestricted free agent, and admits that he’s thought about what could happen. He says that all he can control is his play on the ice. When asked if there was a point that he thought he was going to get traded.
“Oh yeah. Doug Armstrong was always very up front about it. The first thing he said to me is, ‘I don’t want to trade you just for the sake of trading you, but I have to look at my options.’ Last summer at the draft was a time where something was going to happen. The rest of the summer there were a couple long weeks where it seemed like some action was going on, but fortunately by Aug. 1 things started quieting down and at that point it was easier to focus on the fact that I was going to come back to St. Louis and obviously get to play out most of the season here. So far I’m still here. We kind of take it day by day. I know obviously the next couple months are when everything starts to heat up so it’ll be interesting, but as it stands right now, we have a team that is very good and if we can start to put together some winning streaks I think we have a good chance to make a run at the Cup. If that’s the case, hopefully there’s a chance I get to stay here for it.”