- Chris Kuc of the Chicago Tribune: Blackhawks Brandon Saad will be a RFA after the season and could tempt teams to tender him an offer sheet. GM Stan Bowman doesn’t see him going anywhere though.
“He’s emerged as a guy coaches trust, so I would think he’s going to play an even bigger role next year,” Bowman told the Tribune. “He’s ready for that. He’ll be 23 and he’ll have a couple of years of solid NHL experience under his belt. He’s ready for taking that next step to being a featured guy.
“We’ll get him signed.”
- Dave Molinari of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Penguins GM Jim Rutherford wants to upgrade their roster, bringing in some more depth. The Penguins have nine pending UFAs – Craig Adams, Blake Comeau, Steve Downie, Max Lapierre, Daniel Winnik, Paul Martin, Christian Ehrhoff, Taylor Chorney and Thomas Greiss – and Rutherford won’t rule out anyone returning next season except Craig Adams.
“It may mean them going into July and testing the free-agent market to see how much they can get out there,” he said. “Because of our , they may work their way back to us with a more reasonable number.
“I don’t think I’ll be saying that we don’t want anybody back until we at least get into July, to see how the dust settles.”
The Penguins are looking at signing “a couple” European or college free agents, but Rutherford added “but I don’t know where that stands.”
- Dallas Morning News: 10 free agents the Dallas Stars could look at: Mike Greeen, Shawn Horcoff, Antti Niemi, Michael Frolik, Joel Ward, Johnny Oduya, Kari Ramo, Adam McQuaid, Jhonas Enroth and Patrick Eaves.
- Jonathan Willis of the Edmonton Journal: The Oilers need some help on the blueline and could look at the free agent market. They should pass on Mike Green and look at the bigger, younger and likely cheaper Cody Franson.
- News 1130 Sports: Cody Franson on the Canucks: “It would be a very intriguing spot, 3 years with the Giants, Vancouver is a very interesting place to play. Playing in my home province, parents watching would be a great honour, the #Canucks in the mix would be fun. I want to play in roles that make me earn the money we are going to be asking for, the powerplay role is huge for me.”