- Rich Chere of the Star-Ledger: The Devils would like to lock up Zach Parise long-term, but it’s likely he’ll test the free agent market. Parise wants to win a Cup, but are the Devils close enough?
“When you’re here for seven years and have never been past the second round, you realize it’s going by quick,” he said. “You see how hard it is. There are 29 teams every year that are disappointed, so it’s not easy. You’ve got to get lucky, you have to have a great team and you have to have a healthy team and avoid injuries at key times. A lot of things have to fall into place.”
“Some players want to go and get the most money they can, which is fine,” Parise said. “Do whatever you want. Then you have a lot of players who want to be somewhere where you’re going to have the best chance to win.
“I think any player in the situation I’m in has to look at everything. For me, most importantly you look at the team. You look at the area you live in. You look at everything from top to bottom because it’s hopefully where you’re going to spend the rest of your career. So you have to be sure you do your research on everything and make sure it’s somewhere you want to be and where you are comfortable.”
- Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal: The Stars are expected to lose $30 million this season. There is talk of the Blue Jackets sending Antoine Vermette to the Hurricanes for defenseman Bryan Allen. Derick Brassard has been a healthy scratch for the Blue Jackets, but carries a $3.3 million salary year, and $3.7 million next year. The Islanders are said to be looking for a 2nd line center, and may be shopping winger Kyle Okposo, who has been a healthy scratch the past couple games. If the Blackhawks are interested in Sam Gagner, what would the Oilers want in return? They could use a big bodied top 9 forward or high-end prospect. Matheson names Mark McNeill, Brandon Saad, Bryan Bickell and Viktor Stalberg. The Hurricanes are showcasing Tomas Kaberle but with 2 more years at $4 million, not many are interested.
- Katie Carrera of the Washington Post: Capitals Alexander Semin found himself practicing in rotation on the 4th line. Usually one of the four players practicing on the 4th line is a healthy scratch. Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau:
“Infer what you want,” Boudreau said. “I don’t know who, if everybody’s healthy two guys have got to sit, so we have to figure out who it’s going to be.”
Mike Green won’t be in the lineup on Monday. He hasn’t skated in 10 days.
“It hasn’t worsened; just hasn’t improved at the rate we would have liked it to improve,” Boudreau said when asked about Green’s status. “We’re hoping that he skates at some point this week.”
- Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun: The Senators aren’t looking to make any trades while they remain in the thick of things. Matt Carkner is getting close to returning, but he’ll require a conditioning stint first. They’ll have 8 defenseman when he returns. David Rundblad is on a 2-way contract, so he could be sent to down to the AHL when Carkner returns.
- Jeremy Rutherford of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Blue forward T.J. Oshie is listed as day-to-day with a wrist injury. Oshie jammed his right wrist in the 1st period of Saturday’s game. The Blue have called up Brett Sterling in case Oshie can’t go on Tuesday against the Kings.
- Dennis Bernstein via twitter: The Blackhawks are eating $8.5 million in salary (Huet and Olesz), which gives them $5.5 million to make some moves. Bernstein thinks the Kings should consider this with their “nonproductive big $ dudes.”