- Josh Cooper of the Tennessean: Shea Weber and the Predators have their arbitration hearing on August 2nd if a deal can’t get done before.
“It would be way better for the player and the team to negotiate a contract,” Predators General Manager David Poile said. “But the arbitration gives you that ability if you can’t do that. And right now that’s where we fall if we can’t get a contract done.”
Yesterday morning Poile said he tried contacting Weber’s agents but hadn’t heard back from them.
“We are preparing to go to Toronto (for arbitration),” Poile said. “Would I like to sign Shea to a longer-term contract vs. going to arbitration? Absolutely.”
- Chris Kuc of the Chicago Tribune: Goalie Ray Emery will be attending the Chicago Blackhawks training camp on a tryout. He’ll battle Alexander Salak for the backup position. The Blackhawks will have until Oct. 1st to decide whether to sign him or not. “He’s an NHL goalie,” Barry said. “He’s there to play in the NHL. That’s what the plan is. He would not want to start in the ‘A.’ He certainly intends to be worthy of a one-way deal.”
- Katie Strang of Newsday: Islanders goalie Rick DiPietro would welcome Alexei Yashin back.
- Conal Pierse of the Edmonton Journal: Nikolai Khabibulin will spend 15 days in Arizona’s Tent City Jail. “There will be no coffee, no salt, no cigarettes, no porno, no movies,” Arpaio said. “The only television we give them is the weather channel, so they can see how hot it is.”
- Paul Hunter of the Toronto Star: There are some big names left on the free agent market, but their better years may be behind them. Some may be forced to leave the league, take big pay cuts or retire. Teemu Selanne still hasn’t informed the Ducks what he plans on doing. Some other players available are: Bryan McCabe, Chris Drury, Scott Hannan, Cory Stillman, Nikolai Zherdev, Alexei Kovalev, Sergei Samsonov, John Madden, Marty Turco, Mike Modano.
- Winnipeg Sun: A Russian news organization is saying that Nikolai Zherdev wants to play for the Jets. No word if they want him or not.
- Kevin Allen of the USA Today: Ryan Callahan salary breakdown: $4 million, $4 million, and $4.85 million.
- Arthur Staple via twitter: The Rangers have no plans to buyout forward Wojtek Wolski in the next buyout window.