Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet: The Sharks and Canucks worked on a Kevin Bieksa trade for at least week according to multiple sources. Bieksa had even went to San Jose and looked at houses. Reports were that Bieksa was looking for a contract extension, with an executive from another team guessing it could be close to a three-year, $12 million deal. Around 10 teams have shown some interest in acquiring Bieksa.
The Canucks tried to acquire Milan Lucic. They contacted the Bruins to see if they were still interested in Bieksa. The Canucks may have been pitching Zack Kassian.
Canucks GM Jim Benning was trying to get the 31st pick from Buffalo for Eddie Lack.
The Sabres may have been dangling the 31st pick to the Ducks for Frederik Andersen before they traded it to the Avalanche. The Ducks would have needed a lot more than the 31st pick for Andersen.
The Jets are making progress on a Drew Stafford contract extension. Looking like Michael Frolik will go to free agency, and there will be lots of interest.
The Bruins had talks with the Coyotes about sending Dougie Hamilton to Arizona. They were also talking the Avalanche about Hamilton, and would have involved the 13th pick. Some teams were upset that they didn’t know of Hamilton’s availability until it was too late. The Bruins probably preferred to send him to the Western Conference.
The Bruins may have offered Hamilton six-years and $33 million, but he was looking for $2 million per year more.
The Flames and Senators were interested in Chris Stewart while he was in Buffalo, and it will be interesting to see if they are interested in signing the UFA.
Sharks GM Doug Wilson said that there are goalies available for trade than the names that are out there. A couple weeks ago, an executive wondered if the Sharks would ask the Bruins about Tuukka Rask. At that time, the Bruins only had Zane McIntrye and Malcolm Subban, but now they’ve added Martin Jones. Bruins GM Don Sweeney did squash an Rask talk at the draft.
The Blackhawks and Brent Seabrook have talked and it shouldn’t be a surprise if it becomes a priority for GM Stan Bowman in the next few weeks.
Ducks GM Bob Murray on talk of John Gibson being on the trade block: “(He) is not getting traded…put that (bleeping) out there,”
The Ducks and Ryan Kesler have had some talks about a contract extension.
At the end of the season it was unlikely that Tyler Bozak would be back with the Leafs, but now it appears there is a good chance he returns.
Nobody would say how close a Phil Kessel trade to the Penguins was, or still may be. The Leafs were willing to help the Penguins contract issues, but there was no consensus of what the Leafs would have received for doing so.
The Blackhawks and Canadiens were talking about Kris Versteeg, with possibly a 5th round pick going to the Blackhawks in return.
