- Darren Dreger via twitter: The Canucks and Mason Raymond settled on a 1 year, $2.275 million deal before arbitration.
- Terry Koshan of the Toronto Sun: Alexander Semin is reportedly close to signing with the Penguins. Notable free agents still unsigned: Andrei Kostitsyn, Wojtek Wolski, Peter Mueller, Dominic Moore, Teemu Selanne, Kyle Wellwood, Jamie Langenbrunner, Jason Arnott, Carlo Colaiacovo, Jaroslav Spacek, Pavel Kubina, Kurtis Foster, Dan Ellis and Brent Johnson.
- Dmitry Chesnokov via twitter: The reports of Alexander Semin having a 3 year, $30 million offer from the KHL are false on both term and money. Semin said yesterday there is no timeline on a decision where he would sign. He wouldn’t confirm teams that have made offers.
- Andrew Walker via twitter: Brandon Prust said that the Flames, Oilers, Predators and Rangers were interested in him on July 1st.
- Jimmy Murphy via twitter: Murphy doesn’t see how the Tim Thomas to Flames rumors make much sense for the Flames.
- Aaron Portzline of the Columbus Dispatch: The Rick Nash trade saga could end with one phone call, or it could drag in to the regular season. Not one Canadian team is on Nash’s list: Bruins, Red Wings, Rangers, Flyers, Penguins and Sharks.
“It says he wants to get away,” said former NHL defenseman Brian Engblom, now an NBC analyst. “Every guy is different. Look at the kid (Justin Schultz) that just signed with Edmonton as a free agent. From what I could tell, he only wanted to play in Canada. I played in Canadian and U.S. markets, and I can tell you, it is different. To each his own. Some guys thrive on being under that microscope, of having that daily pressure of everybody watching you. And some guys really don’t like that.”
“I don’t think Pittsburgh is a great fit,” said former NHL forward Ray Ferraro, now a broadcaster with TSN. “I mean, he’d probably score 8-10 more goals than he does now, but I just don’t think his game is a match with (Sidney) Crosby and (Evgeni) Malkin.”
“To me, Rick Nash should not touch the puck before the offensive blue line,” said former NHL forward Ed Olczyk, now a broadcaster with the Chicago Blackhawks and NBC Sports. “I mean, yeah, drop the puck back to a defenseman, sure, but he should not be carrying the puck up the ice, and you see that too much, in my opinion.”
“He’s going to change the way he plays with his next team, you can definitely see that,” Ferraro said. “He’s not playing junior hockey any longer if he ends up in New York (John Tortorella) and Detroit (Mike Babcock), I’ll promise you that. Those coaches will get it out of him in a hurry.”
GM Scott Howson can’t make a bad deal. From one NHL GM:
“I don’t blame Scott for waiting this out. He’s not supposed to do what’s right or convenient for the other teams in the league; he’s supposed to do what’s best of his club. I’d ask for the moon, too. You can’t give away a player like that.”