Scouting the New Jersey Devils and Pittsburgh Penguins
Taylor Haase: Scouts listed to attend last night’s Devils-Penguins game: Colorado Avalanche (2), Chicago Blackhawks, Carolina Hurricanes, Vegas Golden Knights, Anaheim Ducks, Montreal Canadiens, Nashville Predators, New York Islanders, Winnipeg Jets, Los Angeles Kings, Dallas Stars, and the Buffalo Sabres.
Scouting the Philadelphia Flyers and Winnipeg Jets
Sam Carchidi: The Nashville Predators had two scouts listed for last night’s Flyers-Jets game. Predators checking out Wayne Simmonds?
Statement on Panarin’s future
Dan Milstein: Statement on Columbus Blue Jackets Artemi Panarin’s future: “We have informed the team that we are willing to discuss Artemi’s future after the season. Our priority now is to focus on the rest of the season, trying to win a Stanley Cup for the CBJ & their fans.”
Shouldn’t be a shock if the Maple Leafs – Matthews extension is done within a month
TSN: Pierre LeBrun said on TSN 1050 that contract talks between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Auston Matthews are heading down the right path and a new deal could happen relatively soon.
“I would say over the last couple of days I continue to hear that things are progressing. Unless there’s a serious setback here over the next few weeks, it certainly wouldn’t shock me if Auston Matthews is signed within the next month here,” LeBrun said Monday on Leafs Lunch.
A shorter-term deal may be the way they are going as it may keep the salary cap hit down and could allow them to be a little more competitive over the next five or six years.
“Not to say that eight years is completely out of the window, but I think it’s really going to come down to five or six . And the five is intriguing, we talked about the six last week and why that makes sense but the five will be intriguing too – if it ends up being five years – because that’ll be the lowest AAV of all three options.”
LeBrun adds that the structure could contain a lot of signing bonuses.