- Chuck Gormley of CSN Washington: Braden Holtby’s agent, David Kaye, said that there is “nothing to report” in a text with regards to contract talks with Capitals GM Brian MacLellan. Two weeks ago, MacLellan said that he made a “huge” and “competitive” offer to Holtby.IF the Capitals offered a five-year, $27 million contract, it would put him 16th among goalies with a $5.4 million cap hit. IF Holtby is looking fo a five year, $31 million contract, it would put him seventh among goalies with a $6.2 million cap hit. IF those numbers are close, they could settle on a four-year deal with a cap hit of $5.8 million, making Holtby a UFA at 29-years old.
Marcus Johansson appears to be headed to a one- or two-year deal. The Capitals will be looking for it to be in the $3 million range, while Johansson will likely be looking for around $4 million. If they go to arbitration and Johansson’s awarded more than $3.5 million, the Capitals can walk away, making Johansson a UFA.
- Calgary Flames: Flames GM Brad Treliving on their RFAs and possibility of arbitration: “We’re optimistic but you always have to be prepared if you go to a hearing.”
- Allan Muir of SI: Muir looks at players who he thinks are untouchable: Connor McDavid, Jonathan Toews, Duncan Keith, Drew Doughty, John Tavares, Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry, and Henrik Lundqvist.In the highly unlikely category: Alex Ovechkin, Erik Karlsson, Carey Price, P.K. Subban, Jamie Benn, and Vladimir Tarasenko.
- Dave Isaac of the Courier-Post: The Flyers have been loading up on defensemen prospects, and could one day have a homegrown blueline that includes Shayne Gostisbehere, Sam Morin, Robert Hagg, Travis Sanheim and Ivan Provorov. GM Ron Hextall is trying to bring them along slowly and not get itchy to push just because their blueline pool is getting bigger.
“No, it doesn’t increase it for me,” Hextall said Tuesday when the Flyers began their prospect camp and had all of those blueliners on the ice at once. “You almost want to pull back more. You guys want to do a project? Just go through the history of the game and young defensemen that have played at a young age and the path that they’ve gone on. It’s dangerous. The history shows it. It’s not just me saying things. If someone’s gonna play, we’re gonna be pretty damn sure they’re going to play.”
