- Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press: Back in mid-February, then Maple Leafs GM Dave Nonis called the Red Wings to see if they were interested in Dion Phaneuf. The Wings were interested, but only if the Leafs ate some salary – they weren’t interested in that. Two days before the deadline, the Leafs called back saying they would retain some salary, but when talking about players that could be involved in the trade, they couldn’t agree. Anthony Mantha’s stock dropped a bit this year, but the Wings don’t want to trade him. Dylan Larkin is untouchable. Any trade talk for a high-end player involves the asking price of a top-end prospects or young players like Gustav Nyquist or Tomas Tatar. The Wings must figure out if they want to make another run soon as Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg and Niklas Kronwall are all in their mid-30s.
- Brendan Savage of MLive: Red Wings GM Ken Holland and coach Mike Babcock will sit down soon – possibly as early as today.
- Bruce Dowbiggin: “Babcock decision dims in Detroit with the deterioration of his relationship with Datsyuk. Sources say the bond is very frayed.”
- David Staples of the Edmonton Journal: (from a couple days ago) Bob McKenzie on Mike Babcock.
“If I were ranking the possibilities for Mike Babcock outside of Detroit, take Detroit out of the equation, I would put Edmonton at Number 1, no question.
“The number one criteria, I think for Mike Babcock would be who he is working for. I think it always is to some degree for a head coach to want to know who is general manager or owner is. Who is he reporting to?”
If Babcock looked at the Maple Leafs, he might think “this tire fire is just getting started,” McKenzie said.
- Ben Kuzma of the Vancouver Province: The Canucks will need to decide if they want to bring Brad Richardson back or not. He could help them down the middle, is good on faceoffs and can kill penalties. He made $1.15 million this past season. Bringing him back would also give Jared McCann and Cole Cassels some more time to develop. Richardson:
“I’m going to be positive. I think I’ve done a good job and whatever happens, happens. Sometimes it’s out of your control and there are factors.”
Chris Higgins could become available if the Canucks are going to promote some of their young wingers. Pending UFA Shawn Matthias:
“They have a lot of decisions to make, but I’m not going to worry about it and hold my breath,” said Matthias, who had just one goal in his last dozen regular-season games.
“I do really enjoy playing here and I respect all the guys and management and I’d love to be back. I’m proud of my season. But on the business side of things, you never know what can happen in a salary-cap world.”