- Chris Johnston of Sportsnet: Maple Leafs assistant GM Kyle Dubas on trade chatter picking up.
“It just seemed that we were getting multiple calls every hour, people trying to test the waters and see what’s happening,” he said. “It’s getting there.”
Dubas has been trying to keep things quiet with regards to the trade front.
“There’s just a lot more paranoia about names getting out,” said Dubas. “So we’ve tried to really keep everything closed off with our team as much as we possibly can. I think inevitably when you’re talking about players with so many teams and then so many staffs are involved and so many agents are involved you’re trying your best but it’s going to go out there.
“We’re trying to do things as privately as we can.”
Dubas thinks that Leafs could still be a desirable spot for free agents.
“You can go back to the last couple years and see guys that have come in on one-(year) or short-term deals and parlayed that into a lot of visibility, a lot of good coverage and now they’ll cash in here in July,” he said.
“So we’ll be looking to do that. I think especially now with having Mike as our coach that how those types of players are viewed by the other teams will only improve.
“That’ll be our key as we head into next week.”
- Ed Tait of the Winnipeg Free Press: Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff is expected to continue to talk with Alex Burmistrov’s agent Mike Luit in Florida at the draft.
“He’s still a young player,” said Cheveldayoff from Vegas. “We’ll see what opportunities present themselves as we continue to have good dialogue.”
Cheveldayoff on the Jets position with Burmistrov and there are no guarantees he’ll be in camp this fall.
“In this game you have to be prepared for a lot of different things. You look around the league and there’s situations like this that happen… you just have to have an open mind and continue to build. Burmi is a young player still, and around the league young players are what teams are coveting. Again, you need to have that growth. In order to take the next steps as franchises, you need to have players in your organization that have not reached their ceiling. That’s where the youth comes in.”
- Elliotte Friedman: Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff said that he will meet with the agents for some of his pending UFAs at the draft. He’s also reached out to the agents for Dustin Byfuglien and Andrew Ladd. Byfuglien and Ladd will be UFAs after next season and are eligible for contract extensions after July 1st.