- Luke DeCock of the Raleigh News & Observer: The Hurricanes need to re-sign or trade Eric Staal and Cam Ward. Both of their contracts expire at the end of next season. If the Hurricanes trade Eric, his brother Jordan may not want to leave. Jeff Skinner has three year left on his deal and is their most marketable asset. GM Ron Francis may be more willing this year to consider a blockbuster trade than he was last season. Ward and both Staal’s hold no-movement clauses.
- Adam Vingan of the Tennessean: Predators GM David Poile said contract talks with free agents they are interested in re-signing are “ongoing.” The Predators don’t intend to re-sign UFAs Matt Cullen, Mike Santorelli, Cody Franson and Anton Volchenkov. Two UFAs Poile would like to keep are Mike Ribeiro and Mike Fisher.
“All bets are kind of off when you get to July 1,” Poile said. “In this particular case, both players want to play here, we want them here, we just haven’t agreed on (terms). But on July 1, everybody can talk to you and something could change.”
Both Ribeiro and Fisher are 35-years old. Ribeiro isn’t looking for a one-year deal and Fisher may be looking for a two year deal.
The Predators have five RFAs: Colin Wilson, Craig Smith, Calle Jarnkrok, Taylor Beck and Gabriel Bourque. Poile may be looking to sign Wilson and Smith to long-term deals.
“That’s what we’ve talked about with both agents,” he said. “Four years, something like that, probably makes sense. I can’t crystal-ball what’s going to happen. What I want, what they want, it could be two different things, but as we’re starting out, that’s what we’re working towards.”
- Tom Dougherty and Tim Riday of CSN Philly: On if the Flyers should be interested in UFA goalie Thomas Greiss. Dougherty thinks Greiss could be a fallback plan if Jhonas Enroth costs too much. Riday thinks their might be better options out there.
- Ansar Khan of MLive: (mailbag) With three-years and $16 million ($4.9 million cap hit) left on his contract, Stephen Weiss will either be brought back or bought out. He is untradable. Players can be bought for two-thirds of their salaries from June 15th to June 30th. Question is, do they want to pay him for the next six seasons?