- Peirre LeBrun of ESPN: Two executives have said in the past couple weeks that the Maple Leafs asking price for Phil Kessel is way, way too high. Executives are staying away until the price is lowered, but you can’t blame the Maple Leafs for starting off high.
“They’re going to have to eat more of his salary than they think right now,” said one of the rival executives.
Kessel has a partial no-trade clause and a new list has to be submitted by July 1st. LeBrun thinks Kessel’s list has already been submitted and might have been tweeked.
The Leafs have already filed for club-elected salary arbitration for Jonathan Bernier. LeBrun thinks that both the Leafs and Bernier are looking at a two- or three-year deal.
- Pierre LeBrun of ESPN: Change could be coming for the Blues. Talk is they would like to do a money in, money out deal, which is not easy in the cap world where teams are looking to shed salary. The Blues are more open minded this offseason to move someone from their core guys – like David Backes, T.J. Oshie, Patrik Berglund or other veterans.Backes will be entering the final year of his deal, which is why his name has come up. Would depend on what a team is offering for him.
The Blues are open for business, but they won’t do a deal just to do a deal.
- Pierre LeBrun of ESPN: Talked with Joe Sakic about Ryan O’Reilly after Thursday’s media call. The Avs and O’Reilly’s camp have talked about an extension. Sakic has made it clear that he’s not comfortable with having it drag on all summer and into next season.
“I’d prefer him not playing it out,” Sakic said. “I think distractions alone, I don’t think he needs it, I don’t think the team needs it. That’s why it’s important for us that we have something done.”
- Pierre LeBrun of ESPN: The agent for Predators UFA Mike Fisher.
“We’ve talked, and we talked as recently as Monday of this week, and we continue to have a very healthy dialogue,” Fisher’s agent, Todd Reynolds, told ESPN.com on Thursday. “It’s clear that it’s everyone’s goal is for Fish to stay there. It’s just that we have a little differing opinion on where the market is on him. And that’s nothing new in our business.”