- Pierre LeBrun of ESPN: The Predators don’t plan on trading RFA defenseman Ryan Ellis.
“This is clearly one of those cases where we want to pay him X and he wants Y,” veteran Preds general manager David Poile told ESPN.com on Tuesday. “We’ve tried to justify our position, they’ve tried to justify their position, and we just disagree.
“I mean, we’re not trading him. We want him. He really played well at the end of last year. I think with Peter Laviolette’s new system, it plays really well into Ryan’s game. The sooner we get it done, the better it will be for everybody.”
It is believed the Predators have offered Ellis contracts ranging from two to five years.
The Stars aren’t close to deals with RFAs Cody Eakin and Brenden Dillon. GM Jim Nill is willing to be patient.
Source said there is nothing new to report on Torey Krug and Reilly Smith.
The Blues are thought to have improved their offer to Jaden Schwartz to be over $2 million last week. Schwartz’s camp probably wants something over $2.5 million.
It’s thought that Ryan Johansen’s two-year offer to the Blue Jackets had salaries of $3.5 million and $6 million. The Blue Jackets are holding firm at two-years and $3 million a season.
If Max Domi doesn’t make the Coyotes, he’ll have to return to Junior for his fourth season where he has little to prove.
“It’s hard to imagine any NHL GM would argue against adding additional flexibility to the current CHL rule,” Coyotes GM Don Maloney told via email to ESPN.com on Tuesday. “We all understand top junior players are valuable assets for their junior Clubs. However, for any elite junior player who has played three full CHL seasons (in Max Domi’s case, three straight Memorial Cup appearances), the option to place the player (perhaps restrict it to one player per Club) in the AHL would be invaluable to us and a real benefit to the player’s development.”
Bill Daly said in an email that he doesn’t see a change happening any time soon.
- Katie Strang of ESPN: (chat) Strang thinks the Islanders could be a logical trading partner for the Bruins who could be looking to trade Johnny Boychuk or Matt Bartkowski. The Islanders would like to make a trade to upgrade their defense. Strang thinks that Jack Capuano (NYI) and Randy Carlyle (TOR) are coaches with the shortest leash. Strang thinks that Johnny Oduya is the likely candidate to be moved by the Blackhawks to get under the salary cap.
- TSN: Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury is not trying to think of contract situation (last year of his deal) or any potential trade.
“I just want to go play, go win,” Fleury said Monday before giving up two power-play goals on 20 shots over two periods of work in Pittsburgh’s exhibition loss to Detroit. “What’s going to happen is what’s going to happen. I’m not worried too much about it.”
- Lou Korac: Blues coach Ken Hitchcock said that both Patrik Berglund and Max Lapierre will finish this week of camp at center, but next week they’ll both going to be tried on the wing.
- Ranaud Lavoie: Despite the reports, the Canadiens won’t be going to the rookie tournament in Penticton BC next year.
- Scott Powers of ESPN Chicago: Cody Bass, Brandon Mashinter and Pierre-Cedric Labrie are the likely candidates to replace the departed Brandon Bollig in the Blackhawks lineup.
