- Jonathan Bomulie and Tom Fontaine of the Pittsburgh Tribune Review: Sources saying that the Penguins will meet with potential ownership groups that have already been approved by the NHL. These types of meetings are common when a franchise is for sale. It is not clear who will be at the meetings and when they will happen.
“We try to do an initial face-to-face meeting early on in the process to try to get through any uncertainties we may have at the beginning,” Morris said. “If there are some red flags in the initial meeting, it would curtail you from moving forward. Just from a time perspective, you would try to do it early on.”
- Tom Gulitti of The Record: The Devils signed Pavel Zacha to a three-year, entry-level deal yesterday, and GM Ray Shero wasn’t worried if they’d get him signed by the August 15th deadline to make him NHL eligible this season. The holdup was the level of bonuses to include. The sixth overall pick wanted the max ‘A’ package bonuses. The Devils comprised with a sliding scale based on the team making the playoffs or a smaller scale if he plays big minutes towards the end of the season as they play out the season. He’ll get full money for goals (20), assists (35) and points (60). There are no “B” bonuses.Devils GM Ray Shero’s decision to buyout Dainius Zubrus two weeks ago was to open up another roster spot to possibly add another forward. Agents are calling and they are still talking to teams, but nothing is imminent.
“There’s lots of agents that call on free agents that are out there and we’re still having conversations with some teams,” Shero said. “But, this will be ongoing. If there’s something there that makes sense, we’d do it today. If it doesn’t, then we won’t. There’s plenty of time before camp starts (on Sept. 17), I guess. We’ll have coaches’ meetings next week and after that there’s some other stuff. So, we’re kind of evaluating. If there is one player that makes sense to us for some particular reason, that’s fine. Maybe there’s a tryout or two. We’ll see. We’ll have to wait and see what the next week or so brings.”
Shero spoke with Ryane Clowe again recently, but there is nothing to report.