- Iain MacIntyre of the Vancouver Sun: It’s not unreasonable to think that GM Jim Benning could be asking players this offseason to waive their no-trade clauses. It’s still unthinkable for defenseman Kevin Bieksa.
“It’s never been brought up to me,” Bieksa said Monday, two days after the Canucks were eliminated from the playoffs by the Calgary Flames. “No one’s ever even mentioned it. Everyone I’ve talked to in the organization has never said anything but positive things to me. I’ve never had one negative experience with a fan in Vancouver, not one fan say they didn’t like me. Not one. For me, it’s a couple of people writing articles.”
Both Bieksa and Dan Hamhuis were both asked about it during their news conference yesterday, and both had never considered it and wouldn’t answer the question whether they’d waive it or not. Bieksa carries a $4.6 million cap hit, but only $2.5 million in salary in the last year of his deal.
“I haven’t heard it brought up by anybody in our organization,” he said during the news conference. “I know you guys are poking around; that’s your job. But it’s not something I really even need to respond to.”
- Mark Spector: Matt O’Connor has narrowed his choice down to the Canucks, Oilers, Rangers and Senators. He met with Peter Chiarelli yesterday and will meet with the Rangers tomorrow.
- Steve Conroy of the Boston Herald: Belief is that Don Sweeney will eventually be named as the Bruins GM. Industry source saying the Bruins have contacted Rangers assistant GM Jeff Gorton. Gorton was an assistant GM with the Bruins when they drafted Patrice Bergeron, David Krejci, Milan Lucic and Brad Marchand.
- Jeremy Rutherford of the St. Louis Post Dispatch: The Blues core group will be called into question again – questions if it should be broken up or not.
“I guess if you watch the game and you don’t just look at the stat sheet, the core group has been playing some pretty good games since the playoffs,” Oshie said. “We’ve been doing a lot of things that Hitch has been asking us to do, and for whatever reason we haven’t gotten the goals… We just haven’t gotten the goals.”
Jake Allen is a RFA and would seem to have the leg up on Brian Elliott for the Blues starter in 2015-16. Elliott declined to comment when asked about his future with the Blues.