Devils and Santini’s camp talking
Todd Cordell: According to Steven Santini‘s agent, contract talks with the New Jersey Devils are progressing nicely.
Tkachuk will meet with his family soon
Andy Strickland: Ottawa Senators draft pick Brady Tkachuk will meet with his family in St. Louis next weekend and will decide whether to sign an entry-level deal or not.
Marriage between Canadiens and Pacioretty appears to be over
Brendan Kelly of the Montreal Gazette: It’s been speculated basically since the start of last season that the Montreal Canadiens are shopping forward Max Pacioretty.
Pacioretty has scored 30-plus goals in four of the past five seasons and at $4.5 million per season has felt like he’s been ripped off.
There is a lot of bad blood between Pacioretty and the Canadiens, and it appears that things are over.
Back at the draft Pacioretty switched agents from Pat Brisson to Allan Walsh, with some speculation that Brisson and Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin were too close and that Brisson wasn’t representing Pacioretty’s best interests.
Teams have been offering less than fair market value because of how the situation has rolled out.
There has also been some talk according to reliable sources that management has been unhappy with Pacioretty for awhile. It doesn’t sound like Pacioretty will be getting another contract from the Canadiens.
Hunter still waiting
Craig Custance of The Athletic: Former Toronto Maple Leafs assistant GM Mark Hunter was eligible to sign with a team on July 15th, but he remains without a team. His not being with a team may be more due to not finding a situation yet that meets his expectations.
He’s likely looking for a situation where he could become a general manager at some point soon.
“The ideal situation would be to be a GM of an NHL team,” Hofford said, in evaluating Hunter’s next steps. “He’s more than capable of doing that. Or it’s a situation that morphs into that over time. He has responsibilities with an assistant GM that guarantees he moves into a GM job. … That is something I think he’d be interested in.”
Potential teams that might be a fit for Hunter include the Detroit Red Wings, Vancouver Canucks, and New York Islanders.