- Joanne Ireland of the Edmonton Journal: The Oilers won’t renew the contract of head coach Tom Renney.
“I’m not going to dissect Tom as a coach. He’s done a good job for us,” said Tambellini. “We’re just trying to find a way to get better.
“We want to make sure we’re doing all we can as we enter this next phase of development so that we are putting ourselves in a spot where we are competing for playoff spots.”
Former Flames coach Brent Sutter’s name has come up as a possible replacement.
- Terry Jones of the Edmonton Sun: Jones thinks that Brent Sutter is the right guy to coach the Oilers next season.
- Ted Kulfan of the Detroit News: Kulfan looks at free agent options for the Red Wings not named Zach Parise or Ryan Suter. Capitals winger Alexander Semin and Blue defenseman Barrett Jackman are interesting names. Both have some baggage, but wouldn’t cost as much. It sounds like Jackman would like to say in St. Loius. Kulfan says not to be shocked if Rick Nash ends up with the Rangers.
- Pierre LeBrun of ESPN: Coyotes Raffi Torres had his suspension hearing yesterday, and it’s not known when Gary Bettman will give his decision.
- Jim Jamieson of the Vancouver Province: Canucks GM Mike Gillis said yesterday that a review of the organization is underway. A look at how he and the Alain Vigneult work together is also underway. Gillis won’t rush the process.
“Alain and I have been meeting the last couple of days and we have a lot of things to discuss over the last couple of years about where we’re headed, how we work together and how we view the world of hockey,” said Gillis.
Gillis on Roberto Luongo:
“I talked to Roberto today. We had a really good conversation. I told him — again — I’m going to take my time and think about everything that’s happened.
“I haven’t really had an opportunity to do that much in the last couple of weeks but I’m going to do that now and we’re going to start making some decisions and solidifying our plans. I will speak to him again when we get to that point.”
“I think trades are very difficult to make. You have to work really hard at making a transaction and you have to do it for a lot of different reasons that often aren’t completely apparent to everybody analyzing it.
“We’ll see how things go and progress for the next few weeks up to the draft.”
- Ben Kuzma of the Vancouver Province: Canucks forward Ryan Kelser on his shoulder surgery:
“It’s going to take six months and the surgeon is not going to release me until I’m at full strength and mobility. I’m doing rehab two or three times a week with my therapist and rehab on my own every day to get my range of motion back slowly. I’ve started working out this week so my legs are more sore than my shoulder right now, but I’m not going to rush anything.”
- Katie Carrera of the Washington Post: The free agent pool for puck-moving, offensive minded defenseman is limited, which may make Dennis Wideman a target of teams. He only had 3 points in the playoffs, and was a -7, but he be sought after and may have played his last game in a Capitals jersey.