- Hope Smoke: Panthers GM Dale Tallon: “We still have some young players in San Antonio that we want to get to & some guys we want to sign this summer” … “We want to get better , but we’re in the hunt . We’ll see what happens here.” … “Moving forward our organization is really solid” … “A lot of teams still in the hunt. Not many teams looking at selling yet” … “We’re in a good position to add from within or go and get somebody.”
- Nichols on Hockey: Pierre LeBrun in TSN 690. Sense is that nothing is imminent with the Kings and Mike Richards. The Jets may still be looking for a top-nine forward, but it may not be as pressing as Evander Kane returned earlier from his injury than originally thought.
LeBrun on TSN 1040 radio. The Rangers could look to add some third/fourth line depth.
Dreger on TSN 1040 radio. Don’t see a Leafs-Predators trade involving Phil Kessel. Who would the Leafs get back in any Kessel trade that would replace his scoring? Teams have called the Leafs to see if certain players are available, including Kessel. Response has been to make an offer, but it’s not believed one has been made.
McKenzie on TSN 1040 radio. Would be shocked if Kessel is moved before the trade deadline.
Elliotte Friedman on Sportsnet 960. Thinks that the Lightning will try to sign Steven Stamkos to a contract extension after July 1st as they don’t want another summer of crazy Toronto rumors.
- Dan Rosen of NHL.com: Sabres GM Tim Murray on the lead-up to the trade deadline.
How do you approach the buildup to the NHL Trade Deadline, because I’d imagine it become an exciting time for you? I’m sure you’re a wanted guy and lots of people are calling to see who they can pick off of your team for their playoff run.
“Right. Right. It’s kind of like last year, same thinking. We go down and have our pro meetings and we get ready for between now and the trade deadline. If we can make good deals that are beneficial to the future of this franchise we are going to do that. I don’t want to certainly tear the team apart even though we’re picking third overall as of today, but I’ve had a talk with people in my organization, ownership and including a player like Brian Gionta, that we’re not going to let pending UFAs leave for nothing. We do have to continue to build this; we’re not there. No one can be happy with the record we have and I don’t blame them, but we are where we are. It is a rebuild. It wasn’t a retool. It wasn’t a quick fix. It’s a rebuild so that we can be good for a long time. That’s the mindset. In saying that we signed Brian Gionta, we traded for Josh Gorges, so we were still able to acquire good players, but we have to be able to acquire good players going forward if we’re going to fix this fairly quickly.”