On the Toronto Maple Leafs …
Frank Seravalli of TSN: Contract talks between the Toronto Maple Leafs and pending unrestricted free agent winger James van Riemsdyk have been quiet so far according to JVR.
There is a mutual interest for an extension, but the Maple Leafs may be faced with a salary cap crunch and the raise van Riemsdyk could be looking for.
Unless something changes, JvR will remain with the Leafs past the trade deadline and be their “own rental.” Replacing his goals wouldn’t be easy.
van Riemsdyk has a 10-team no-trade list.
“I’ve tried not to think about,” he said. “You’re human and it’s your future, so there’s some degree of that. Your mind goes there sometimes – wanting to know for sure.”
JvR could potentially be the second best forward free agent this offseason behind John Tavares.
“The contract stuff usually sorts itself out. It becomes pretty clear what’s going on,” van Riemsdyk said. “You just play and we’ll see how it all shakes out.”
On the Edmonton Oilers and Ottawa Senators …
Chris Nichols of FanRag Sports: Elliotte Friedman was on 630 CHED Friday. Friedman said that Oilers GM Peter Chiarelli and Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin has been trying to make trades. Would the Oilers be interested in a forward like Ottawa Senators Mike Hoffman?
“Now, he’s got term so you’ve got to know how to make it work. But Mike Hoffman is a guy – he can really shoot the puck. He’s a scorer. I’m sure that Edmonton would be looking at that and saying, ‘Okay, he’s potentially a guy that could interest us,” but I think he’s got four more years left or three more years left – something like that. You’ve got to figure out, ‘Okay, how do we make this work.’”