On Arizona Coyotes and Tobias Rieder …
Chris Nichols: Bob McKenzie said that Tobias Rieder hasn’t demanded a trade, but his agent suggested to the Coyotes that it may be in their best interest to trade him if they won’t meet his contract demands.
On the Calgary Flames and Johnny Gaudreau …
Bob McKenzie: The Flames would like to have Sean Monahan and Johnny Gaudreau tied together at seven-years at $6.375 million per season. Monahan is a year younger, but has had three productive seasons compared to Gaudreau’s two.
Bob McKenzie: Guessing that the Flames don’t really want to go higher than Mark Giordano‘s team high $6.75 million.
Bob McKenzie: Eric Francis reported that Gaudreau could be looking for $8 million a season, and there is some speculation that he asking price could be over $8 million.
Bob McKenzie: There is a big gap between the two sides. As of Wednesday, there had been no recent talks between the two sides.
On the Buffalo Sabres and Rasmus Ristolainen …
John Vogl of the Buffalo News: Despite not having a contract, Rasmus Ristolainen reported to the Sabres training camp yesterday. The Sabres and RFA Ristolainen are not close on a deal, and if upcoming talks don’t go well, he may not stick around for too long.
“Everyone knows how dedicated he is to his training, and he wanted to continue to build on the gains he made this summer,” Ristolainen’s agent, Mike Liut, said in an email to The Buffalo News. “He skipped the World Championship so he would have a full 16-week training session leading up to the World Cup, so he’s more prepared than ever and wants to keep it that way.
“In the end, this made sense to him, at least in the short term.”
The Sabres plan is to pair Ristolainen and Dmitry Kulikov on their top pairing, and Ristolainen is hoping to get paid like one. They are believed to be about a $1 million per season apart.