- Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News: (mailbag) The Stars have $10 million invested in Antti Niemi and Kari Lehtonen, and Heika thinks they are committed to both for the entire season because they worry about depth in the playoffs. The only way they would move one, would be if they get a ‘rock solid’ back-up included in the deal. They could re-evaluate their situation next offseason.Predicting line combos and pairings: Benn-Seguin-Sharp, Nichushkin-Spezza-Hemsky, Roussel-Eakin-Eaves, Mckenzie-Fiddler-Sceviour …. Oduya-Klingberg, Nemeth-Goligoski, Jokipakka-Demers.
- Adam Vingan of the Tennessean: (mailbag) The Predators top two centers are both 35-years old (Mike Ribeiro and Mike Fisher), and GM David Poile said earlier this month that they will need to replace them in the next couple years.
“We’re realistic that we have two 35-year-old centers that we’ve eventually got to replace, whether that’s in two years, three years,” Predators general manager David Poile said earlier this month. “I said to both of them, ‘I hope you play a lot longer than that.’ But you just never know when Father Time catches (up to you).”
Next years center free agent crop is a little thin, so they may have to look at the trade market. Cody Hodgson could be an in-house option if he’s able to bounce back and live up to prior expectations.
The Predators won’t make any big trades until they can get Seth Jones and Filip Forsberg locked up beyond this season.
- Sarah McLellan of the Arizona Republic: The Coyotes and the city of Glendale have a two-year arena deal in place now, but where the team will be in 2017-18 is still question. Bringing in any free agents that extends past the 2016-17 season could be difficult.
“I would like to see us structure something with the city of Glendale on an extended basis sometime over this next year,” Coyotes president, CEO and co-owner Anthony LeBlanc said, “because I don’t want to go into free agency next year having (General Manager) Don (Maloney) dealing with the same uncertainty he was dealing with this year.”
They will begin to work on a long-term plan.
“We will begin in earnest in the month of August having discussions about what we need to see on both sides to extend this because nobody benefits from a short-term deal like this, in particular, our hockey department,” LeBlanc said.
