Coaching notes on the Sharks and Kraken
Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic: The San Jose Sharks are expected to remove the interim coaching tag from Bob Boughner in the next week or two.
Seattle Kraken GM Ron Francis had the go-ahead from ownership to hire a head coach whenever he wants but with the uncertainty of how next season will role out, Francis has a reason to wait a bit. thinks the Gerard Gallant would be a perfect fit. Gallant is still under contract with the Vegas Golden Knights until June 2021.
Top 20 unrestricted NHL free agents
Emily Sadler of Sportsnet: Looking at the top 20 unrestricted free agents.
1. Alex Pietrangelo – St. Louis Blues
2. Taylor Hall – Arizona Coyotes – Hall on his next contract.
“I don’t think the money is going to be what it was before COVID or before this season, but that’s fine,” he said. “I think we get paid a lot of money to play a game and we’ll see what happens.”
3. Torey Krug – Boston Bruins
4. Robin Lehner – Vegas Golden Knights
5. Tyson Barrie – Toronto Maple Leafs
6. Jacob Markstrom – Vancouver Canucks – Canucks GM Jim Benning on Markstrom.
“Jacob is an important guy in our group,” Benning explained. “He’s a leader and he was our MVP over the regular season, so we’re going to try to figure out a way that makes sense for us and that makes Jacob and his agent happy, to try to figure out a deal to get him signed.”
7. Mike Hoffman – Florida Panthers
8. Braden Holtby – Washington Capitals – Capitals GM Brian MacLellan on Holtby.
“I’d expect him to go to free agency. The goalie market is unusually deep this year,” MacLellan said during a Zoom call, after the team announced the hiring of Peter Laviolette as head coach. “I talked to his agent last week briefly about where he’s at and the kind of opportunities he’s looking for.
“I would assume he goes to free agency and we’ll keep in contact with him throughout the free agency period and see if he’s getting what he wants.”
9. Evgenii Dadonov – Florida Panthers
10. Tyler Toffoli – Vancouver Canucks
11. Mikael Granlund – Nashville Predators
12. T.J. Brodie – Calgary Flames
13. Travis Hamonic – Calgary Flames
14. Sami Vatanen – Carolina Hurricanes
15. Anton Khudobin – Dallas Stars
16. Corey Crawford – Chicago Blackhawks
17. Ilya Kovalchuk – Washington Capitals
18. Erik Haula – Florida Panthers
19. Wayne Simmonds – Buffalo Sabres
20. Kevin Shattenkirk – Tampa Bay Lightning
