- Fluto Shinzawa of the Boston Globe: The Panthers would like to re-sign Jaromir Jagr. Pending UFAs Scottie Upshall and Tomas Kopecky will not be back. The Panthers will have some money this offseason and GM Dale Tallon could look once again to the Blackhawks, possibly at Patrick Sharp or Bryan Bickell.Blackhawks Corey Crawford is a good goalie, but he’s not elite, and he carries a $6.5 million hit. That is almost $6 million more than Scott Darling who is 9-3-0 with a 1.86 GAA and .939 save percentage. Crawford is 32-17-5 with a 2.28 GAA and .924 save percentage. The Oilers need a goalie. Ex-Blackhawk Antti Niemi will be a UFA.
If the Red Wings decide that Petr Mrazek is their future over Jimmy Howard, would ex-Red Wings executive and current Stars GM Jim Nill be interested?
- Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News: Stars GM Jim Nill will have to decide on what to do with goalie Kari Lehtonen this offseason. Do they buy him out, look to trade him or keep him? The Stars are 29th in the NHL in save percentage. Lehtonen is 34-17-10, but he has a 2.94 GAA and .903 save percentage. Their backups went 0-14-0. They need to improve in net.
- Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun: Simmons wonders if GM Dave Nonis will take the fall for the Maple Leafs season or if he’ll get the chance to attempt to fix them. If president Brendan Shanahan has an idea of which way he’s leaning, he’s not letting on. Just about any Leaf should be traded aside from Morgan Rielly, Jonathan Bernier and James van Riemsdyk. The Leafs still seem committed to Nazem Kadri and Jake Gardiner.
