On College Free agents …
Cory Wilkins of theScore: Calgary Flames President of Hockey Operations was on TSN and was saying that aside from Jimmy Vesey, the Flames aren’t sold on any of the other college free agents.
“If you look at the college free agents, they have made a dramatically insignificant contribution to our league,” Burke told TSN. “Tyler Bozak might be the best one. Of the 100 or 150 that have signed, most have very little impact.”
Burke thinks that Vesey can make an impact in the NHL and will be a good addition for the team that signs him. Vesey isn’t talking with the Flames.
“I think (Vesey) is going to play and make a difference. I think he’s going to be a good player,” Burke said. “But if you look at that group, and the money that the league has spent on those players, and their contribution, it is a pimple on an elephant’s butt.”
On the Pittsburgh Penguins …
Jonathan Bombulie: The Penguins have signed college free agent Thomas DiPauli. The deal is done according to his agent.
On the St. Louis Blues …
Jeremy Rutherford of the St. Louis Post Dispatch: Vladimir Sobotka’s agent told Blues GM Doug Armstrong again on Wednesday that Sobotka is returning.
“I talked to the agent yesterday, and he said (Sobotka) will be here,” Armstrong wrote in a text message to the Post-Dispatch.
Sobotka owes the Blues one more season on his deal at $2.725 million. The Blues have been told that there has been a delay in the finalizing of the paperwork that terminates his KHL contract.
Reports are still coming out of Russia that he will be playing in the KHL this season and not with the Blues.
Chris Nichols of Today’s Slapshot: Blues GM Doug Armstrong on SiriusXM radio talking about trading Brian Elliott to the Flames and signing Jake Allen to a four-year contract extension.
“Talking to Brian when the season was over, he’s at the age – he’s going to be an unrestricted free agent. He really wants the net,” noted Armstrong during a Wednesday appearance on Toronto’s SiriusXMNHL. “Jake, at 26, had the net and then the injuries – Brian went in there and grabbed it and didn’t look back.
“I think it was a great relationship for a number of years, but I think the relationship could have been strained as you enter this last year with Brian being unrestricted and then obviously Jake would have been on the last year of his deal. I don’t think we could have made that type of commitment to Jake with Brian still here because it would have poisoned the well.”