The St. Louis Blues likely won’t have to move out salary …
Jeremy Rutherford: When asked if the Blues will need to make a trade to clear out some salary cap space to get under the cap: “No,” Army said. “I don’t believe we have to do anything unless we so desire to do something.”
Jeremy Rutherford: GM Doug Armstrong on contract talks with restricted free agent Joel Edmundson: “We haven’t had a lot of discussions yet. Newport Sports is one of the premier agencies in the game. July 1 is important for each individual team, but they have to deal with 31 managers and close to 100-plus clients that are entering contract years.” … “I think everyone knew that next week will be the week where you really get down to work on something like this.”
Talk of the Pittsburgh Penguins views on Max Pacioretty changing …
Jimmy Murphy: Sources said at the draft that the Penguins were not interested in acquiring Canadiens winger Max Pacioretty. Talk is that this could be changing, but it may only able to happen if the Penguins can include Phil Kessel in the trade, or if they trade him in another deal.
On the report that the Montreal Canadiens are interested in giving Max Pacioretty an extension …
Jack Todd: “I would take any reports that the Habs won’t sign Pacioretty with a grain of salt. Leaking the news could be an agent’s tactic, or it could be someone claiming to be in the loop who isn’t. In other words – unless you heard it from the late great Red Fisher…”
Pacioretty in 17-18: 64 gp, 212 shots, 17 goals on 8% shooting.
If you extend his shot rate to 82 gp and use his 16-17 sh%, he would’ve scored 35 goals (exact same number he scored in 16-17).
He still managed a strong GAR and was one of the NHL’s unluckiest shooters last year. pic.twitter.com/tld6UWxF3W
— Sean Tierney (@ChartingHockey) July 11, 2018
It’s all about winning for Chris Kunitz …
Chris Nichols of Nichols on Hockey: Chris Kunitz’s agent Ben Hankinson was on the KFAN in Minneapolis/St. Paul’s a couple of days ago and was talking about players willing to take less money in some cases to play on a team with a better chance of winning a Cup. Talks led into Chris Kunitz.
“He had a team offer him a great deal this summer… it’s a team in Canada out West that wanted to sign him that’s been a good team off and on. They’ve gone through their struggles. But he’s like, ‘No, I don’t like their defensemen. They’re never going to win with those defensemen.’
“So for him, it’s all about winning.”
