- Tom Gulitti of The Record: Devils GM Lou Lamoriello plans to add two scores for next season. Patrik Elias hasn’t had the greatest season, but he believes he can bounce back to 2013-14 form (53 points in 65 games) or better.
“I think I still can be the player I was a couple years ago or last year or better,” he said. “I feel that.”
Elias wants to be back with the Devils next season, and he has a no-trade clause in hand. He has one year left on his contract, and he’s not sure if it will be his last.
“I don’t know,” he said. “You’ve got to have that in the back of your mind a little. I don’t feel like this is it, but it could be. We’ll see. It’s going to be a long year. A lot of things can happen.”
- Sam Carchidi of the Philadelphia Inquirer: Brayden Schenn’s inconsistent year has led to rumors that GM Ron Hextall could put him on the trade block this offseason. Schenn and Sean Couturier may not be progressing as fast as the Flyers had hoped, but Hextall seems to be leaning towards allowing them a little more time to develop.
- Jeremy Rutherford of the St. Louis Post Dispatch: Vladimir Sobotka could be wearing a Blues jersey again someday, but it won’t be this season. Sobotka’s agent, Petr Svoboda said he’ll meet with Blues GM Doug Armstrong possibly as early as next month to talk about Sobotka’s future with the Blues. Sobotka’s ‘out’ clause opens in May.
“Doug was keeping in touch throughout the whole year, what was going on with Vladi’s season,” Svoboda said. “We believe that we’re going to be talking very shortly. We did not make a decision what’s going to be happening with him yet. We’re going to decide the first week of May.”
Sobotka will be playing in the World Hockey Championships for the Czech Republic, and will meet up with Svoboda to talk about his future then.
“We’re going to sit down and review the whole situation, how he feels, and go from there,” Svoboda said. “I’m not closing doors on anything. Obviously Vladi liked St. Louis. He played for them for (four) years and really enjoyed the city and the fans. Obviously he wanted a bigger deal last year, but when everything presented itself, he made his decision. But Vladi is not one of those guys that will hold grudges. We’ve just got to see what his thought process is for next year.”
- Kelly Masse: “Regarding Rob Ford on HHOF Board..HHOF does not decide who is nominated and elected by the City of Toronto to the HHOF Board. Under HHOF’s Articles of Incorporation, the City has the right to nominate and elect up to 3 individuals to the eighteen member Board.”
- Rob Ford has been nominated for the Hockey Hall of Fame board of directors … Teams will get draft pick compensation for losing a coach or management personnel. Talk on the San Jose Sharks on what may happen with GM Doug Wilson and coach Todd McLellan. Bruins Marc Savard could be in the trade rumors this summer if team is looking to get to the salary floor. He has two years left on his deal, but is only owed just over $1 million in salary. ($4.007 million cap hit)