- Arthur Staple of Newsday: Martin St. Louis on his future.
“As you get older, you always think about the following year, the next year,” the 39-year-old said Monday. “For me right now, of course I want to play. I’m not sure which direction this team is going to go in, either, so it’s tough to comment. I’ve been blessed to play parts of two years here for a great organization and we’ll see where that takes me. The opportunity to play for a Cup last year and one win away again this year . . . It’s an experience I’ll never forget.”
Head coach Alain Vigneault and assistant GM Jeff Gorton have talked to St. Louis about his future.
“Marty has been a great player on this team leadership-wise, setting-an-example-wise,” Vigneault said. “He wants to take a little bit of time at this moment to analyze this season and see what he wants to do. That being said, from our end, we need to know where the cap’s going to be. It sort of works out perfectly from both sides. He’s going to think about it and we’re going to see where we are money-wise and go from there.”
- Pat Leonard of the NY Daily News: Carl Hagelin will get a nice raise from $2.25 million.
No pay cut would justify bringing Martin St. Louis back.GM Glen Sather should re-sign Matt Hunwick.
Dan Boyle may be the odd man out now on the Rangers blueline. He’s under contract for one more year at $4.5 million. If they were able to move Boyle, it would free up some money to spend elsewhere. They could look to get a little tougher on the blueline, maybe looking at Anton Volchenkov.
They could look to trade Cam Talbot. Leonard mentions the Stars as a possible trade candidate – maybe Antoine Roussel and/or Ryan Garbutt and draft picks could be on the table.
Sather needs to stop trading their first round picks. They won’t have a first for a third straight year, and they owe the Coyotes a 2016 or 2017 first round pick from the Keith Yandle deal.
Pavel Buchnevich won’t be coming to the Rangers until at 2016 at the earliest.
- Lance Hornby of the Toronto Sun: The Maple Leafs can put Nathan Horton on the LTIR to get some cap relief if they trade Dion Phaneuf and/or Phil Kessel and are required to retain some salary. It wouldn’t cover the entire lengths of their contracts, but it could help solve the short-term problem.Hornby wonders if the Leafs would be interested in Ducks Matt Beleskey.