- Stephen Harris of the Boston Herald: One assistant GM on former Bruins defenseman Dougie Hamilton.
“It was surprising,” said one NHL assistant GM. “It’s obvious there’s something going on that we don’t know about. From what I’ve heard behind the scenes, his teammates don’t like him. I heard he’s a loner and sort of an uppity kid, and that his teammates don’t like him and it was unanimous.”
GM Don Sweeney will continue to look to make more moves.
“We’re not done yet,” said one B’s front office staffer, promising the team will work hard to trade for some much-needed proven NHL talent. The team does have some $12 million in open cap space now — with several players yet to sign.
- Pierre LeBrun of ESPN: The Sharks – Canucks trade for Kevin Bieksa fell through as the Canucks wanted a 2015 2nd round pick and the Sharks wanted it to be a 2016 2nd round pick.
“Going in, the market place dictates that Johnny Boychuk went for two second-round picks,” Benning said, citing last fall’s deal between the Boston Bruins and the New York Islanders. “Kevin is a little bit older. That’s what our asking price was . I don’t think it’s too much, I think it’s fair. That’s what we were trying to get if we were going to move Kevin.”
Sources saying the Canucks are talking to other teams about Bieksa.
GM Benning on trading Eddie Lack for a third and seventh round pick.
“What happened with Eddie is that we thought with one of our goalies we would be able to recover a second-round pick,” said Benning. “Now at the end of the day, we talked to probably eight teams, and the only real offer we got was for that pick at the top of the third round. People might say we didn’t get enough, but at the end of the day that’s the only real offer we got.”
- Pierre LeBrun of ESPN: Hurricanes GM Ron Francis wants to get an extension for Eric Staal done.
“I’ve had a general and open and honest conversation with Eric’s agent on things,” Francis said Saturday. “We’ll continue to have those as we move into the summer. Eric has indicated he wants to be part of the Hurricanes moving forward, and we’ll see if we can get that worked out.”