- Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun: The market for Phil Kessel at the draft was thin and marginally active. The market for Tyler Bozak was non-existent as the Maple Leafs didn’t receive one phone call asking about him. The Leafs would like to trade Kessel, and he’d like to stay. They wouldn’t mind keeping Dion Phaneuf, and he now apparently wants to leave.The Leafs would have made Rangers assistant GM Jeff Gorton their GM if the Rangers would have made him available.
The Kings received some calls on Slava Voynov, but they don’t intend to move him.
- Larry Brooks of the NY Post: It doesn’t appear that the Rangers have any intentions of trading Rick Nash. The Rangers are down two top-nine wingers in Martin St. Louis and Carl Hagelin. Potential replacement Pavel Buchnevich decided to remain in the KHL for another year.Brooks thinks Brad Richards would be a good fit with the Islanders.
Patrick Sharp is the Penguins top target to fill their top-six winger need. Brooks adds: “Their reported interest in Phil Kessel represents either a flight of whimsy or a reflection of suicidal tendencies.”
- Aaron Portzline of the Columbus Dispatch: The Blue Jackets were’t able to trade a forward at the draft, or deepen their blueline.
“I still think we have the same objective,” Kekalainen said. “But I’ve said all along: If we want to try to get a defenseman who would make our defense better, let’s get the right guy. Let’s not try to force something just to get a body because we feel like we have to do something.”
GM Jarmo Kekalainen spoke with a few agents for some pending UFA defensemen.
Teams have until 5 pm tomorrow to send out qualifying offers for RFAs.
“We have a good idea, but we want to see where we ended up after all these picks,” Kekalainen said, noting the NHL’s limit of having 50 players per team under contract. “We might want to sign a couple of these guys that we drafted, and so where does that put us with our number of contracts?”
The Blue Jackets currently have 41 players under contract.