- Tom Gulitti of The Record: Pavel Zacha’s agent is hopeful that they can get an entry level deal done.
“We’ve been involved in negotiations since the draft and trying to get a deal done,” Zacha’s agent Patrik Stefan said today. “There is optimism right now and, hopefully, we can get something done and Pavel can be at (training) camp and, hopefully, have chance to play for the New Jersey Devils next year.”
If Zacha isn’t signed by August 15th, he won’t be eligible to play in the NHL until 2016-17. Source is saying that Zacha is looking for a maximum deal.
“This is part of negotiations,” Stefan continued. “Maybe this is not the slam dunk of some other teams. People know that New Jersey has done very well over how many number of years. They haven’t had very many high draft picks. I think Adam Larsson was the highest one four years ago. Since then, the Devils haven’t had anything in the top 10. So, I guess that kind of comes into play into play, too.”
- Kevin Kurz of CSN Bay Area: (mailbag) The Sharks top two pairs should be set with Paul Martin paired with Brent Burns, and Marc-Edouard Vlasic with Justin Braun. They also have Brendan Dillon, Mirco Mueller and Matt Tennyson (on a one-way contract). Mueller could start the year in the AHL.It’s unclear if they are looking to add another defenseman. They only have about $1 million in cap space, which includes Mueller and Raffi Torres’ $2 million. Torres may not be ready to go, so they could have additional cap space. If they have the extra space, it would be wise to add a depth defenseman.
There are likely two forward spots available for the Sharks, and challenging for a roster spot include: Barclay Goodrow, Nikolay Goldobin, Rourke Chartier, Timo Meier, Nikita Jevpalovs and Joonas Donskoi. If someone is able to push a regular out, they could look move someone during the season. A long way off though.