Canucks Look To Get Elias Pettersson Locked Up Long Term
Thomas Drance of The Athletic: While the Vancouver Canucks do not have to worry about it right now, eventually their focus will have to turn to re-signing Elias Pettersson on a long-term extension.
NHL Rumors: Vancouver Canucks – Ethan Bear, NHL Draft, and Brock Boeser
As Drance writes fans should not be worried about a Matthew Tkachuk situation just yet. Pettersson is only eligible to sign an extension on July 1st. There is a pretty good chance Pettersson stays in Vancouver but it might not be as quick as we think. Even though he likes living in Vancouver there are outside factors from the player and team that may prolong the negotiations,
Drance writes that general manager Patrik Allvin noted there is no rush to get negotiations started, however, the Canucks will make locking him up long-term a priority and try to get that done once the draft and free agency settles down.
Florida Panthers Look To Add Depth on Defence
David Dwork of the Hockey News: With free agency just around the corner once the NHL Draft is complete, the Florida Panthers will get right back into the thick of things as they begin a short off-season. An area of need will be defence with key players Aaron Ekblad and Brandon Montour potentially missing to begin the start of the season.
NHL Rumors: Panthers, Gaudreau, Kadri, Forsberg and Weber
The Panthers would like to add a mobile defenceman like Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Shayne Gostisbehere. Florida could go after John Klingberg and Matt Dumba, but those players might be out of the Panthers price right depending on what they are asking for.
Florida has become a destination for players and the Panthers do not have to convince guys to come here anymore. However, with the flat cap players might be going shorter term to maximize their value when the cap does go up.