- Terry Frei of the Denver Post: Avs Joe Sakic said on Thursday that he’d like to have Ryan O’Reilly signed to a contract extension before the start of next season. O’Reilly will be a UFA after next season. When asked about his situation, O’Reilly said:
“I’m really just trying to finish the season and finish it strong. I’ve always kind of been that way. Once I’m in a season, I just play. Once I get to the summer, that’s when we negotiate and it’s a contract thing. I leave the business part as the business part and the hockey part as the hockey part. It’s something we’ll visit and will be excited to do.”
- Rich Chere of NJ.com: Current Panther Jaromir Jagr had expressed some disappointment that Devils GM Lou Lamoriello didn’t keep him informed on potential landing spots leading up to the trade deadline.
“My obligation is to the New Jersey Devils. My obligation is to do what’s right for the New Jersey Devils under every set of circumstances, never losing sight of the individual and the person,” Lamoriello said. “But the priority is the New Jersey Devils.”
Lamoriello felt that it would work out for Jagr in Florida, and the Devils received two picks for him.
“I thought it would. I know (GM) Dale Tallon very well. I know ownership very well and the coach very well,” Lamoriello noted. “I didn’t have any hesitation that it would work out from (Jagr’s) perspective, but that wasn’t the priority. That’s not my responsibility.”
- Fluto Shinzawa of the Boston Globe: The Bruins will need to find a backup goalie Tuukka Rask this offseason. They will consider bottom-six options to potentially replace Gregory Campbell and Dan Paille. The Bruins will also have to decide if Joe Morrow and Zach Trotman are ready to replace Matt Bartkowski and Adam McQuaid. They will also have to decide if they want to trade Milan Lucic or not. Lucic has a no-trade clause. He had a disappointing season with 18 goals and 26 assists in 81 games, averaging 16:21 minutes per game. They need to determine if part of his downturn was due to David Krejci having injuries issues this season. If the Bruins trade Lucic, they could move Loui Eriksson to the left side. They don’t have to trade Lucic.
- Dennis Bernstein: (answering question – if a team like Buffalo would offer sheet Kings Tyler Toffoli) Toffoli/agent would have to solicit an offer sheet and sign it. He is happy in LA and don’t see why he would look to leave.
- Mayor’s Manor: Kings GM Dean Lombardi on if they will have a different style of play next season.
“It’s a fair question. We always put that on the board every year we take a look at it. I think if everybody’s there the way we’ve kind of got it planned, because were not slow. If you go through the roster, Pearson and Toffoli aren’t slow, Kopitar’s not slow, Gaborik’s not slow, Carter’s certainly not slow Lewis isn’t slow Brown isn’t slow, then its speed through the puck that’s more important quite frankly. I think we have an issue at times where we’re making more plays, when we’re on we’re connecting the dots. When we look slow, we don’t connect the dots. We’re not a team that one guy is going to turn something into nothing, per se. Maybe Carter’s got a little bit of that. You’re right, it has to be discussed, but am I there? No. Let’s face it, we got to where we were playing that way and quite frankly every team we were up against was playing that way. San Jose was physical, Anaheim was physical, St. Louis was an absolute war. Chicago was no walk in the park either, even though they’re more skilled.