On the Detroit Red Wings and Thomas Vanek …
Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press: The Detroit Red Wings and free agent winger Thomas Vanek remain in contact.
A few teams have been in contact with the 33-year but there is the sense that he would like to return to Detroit.
One issue is the Red Wings don’t have a lot of salary space with Tomas Tatar and Andreas Athanasiou needing new deals.
On the Colorado Avalanche and Will Butcher …
Adrian Dater: (asked about prospect Will Butcher) It’s very likely that Butcher won’t be signing with the Avalanche. They still have his exclusive rights until August 15th. He’ll become a unrestricted free agent after that.
On Karl Alzner …
Chris Nichols of FanRag Sports: Karl Alzner was on Sportsnet 960 yesterday talking about the free agent process for him.
“With the week leading up, you get an opportunity to visit some places and really feel out some of the interest level, and make a more informed decision.
“It was pretty interesting though because things did change daily and sometimes hourly, depending on which teams were interested and which ones had to bow out and which ones wanted you to come and visit.
“It was pretty crazy. You like to have a little bit of time to make decisions, but like I say – it was non-stop change. That’s not really great when you’re trying to plan things for families.”
Montreal was the first city Alzner visited and where he ended up signing.
Alzner said there were three teams towards the end of the process that were interested in him.
“Essentially, in the end, it was I guess three,” revealed Alzner. “One bowed out right before and then there was two. But realistically it was what made most sense for the family, career, and which one seemed like they were most interested.”