- Josh Cooper of the Tennessean: Shea Weber’s arbitration is set for 8:00 am (9:00 am EST) this morning as a deal wasn’t struck last night. Both sides aren’t allowed to speak to reporters after the hearing briefs were filed. Weber won’t be a UFA until after the 2012-13 season. The Predators will have Ryan Suter and Pekka Rinne as UFAs after next year. The Predators currently have a cap number of $41.2 million.
- Josh Cooper via twitter: “Both sides will have 90 minutes to present their cases. The side that goes first will have 10 minutes for rebuttal.” Cooper thinks it’s a bad situation for the Predators and their relationship with Weber.
- Dave Caldwell of the NY Times: Nassau County voted against the $400 million overhaul of the Nassau Coliseum. Islanders owner Charles Wang has tried for nearly a decade to get a new/refurbished arena for the Isles. The Islanders lease expires after the 2015 season, and Wang said last night that the team will honor the lease.
- The NY Times: Suspended Islanders goalie Evgeni Nabokov said he will attend training camp. “Yes, I do plan on attending,” Nabokov said Monday. “Now I will have full preparation for the season.” Nabokov on not reporting last January when he was claimed off waivers from Detroit:
“Any time you go to a new group, you want to be welcomed,” Nabokov said. “I’m not sure everyone understands the situation. Players can play 5, 10 minutes a night, but goalies have to play the whole game. I wasn’t ready and the situation wasn’t right. I wish we had better communication between the Islanders and me, but it was a tough decision for me that I couldn’t help.”
- James Mirtle via twitter: The NJ Devils have put Colin White and Trent Hunter on waivers with the purpose of buying them out. White’s buyout would carry a cap hit of $1 million for the next 2 years. Hunter’s cap hit would be $666,667 for 4 years.
- Ryan Lambert of Yahoo! Sports: The Devils and Parise will continue to work on getting a long-term deal done. The longer they go without one, the more rumors will pick up towards the trade deadline. “The entire TSN deadline show would become a theater production devoted to Parise’s eventual landing spot, regardless of how clear it was that the player would eventually sign with the only NHL team he has ever known.”
- James Murphy of ESPN: Marc Savard told TSN:
“It’s obviously been a long road for me. I’m still suffering with a lot of daily issues. Right now it’s been a tough go,” Savard said. “I’m just trying to get through and not worry about hockey right now, just worry about my health because I have three young kids and they’re important to me.
“Mornings have been tough. When I get up in the morning I’m a little foggy sometimes. But as the day wears on, I’m pretty good. Hot sun is tough; I try to stay in the shade and stuff like that and pop the odd Advil and it seems to be OK.”
Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli is petitioning the NHL to have Savard’s name etched on the Stanley Cup. Under League rules he is not eligible as he didn’t play enough games last season.
- David Pollak of the San Jose Mercury News: Brent Burns said it was a “no-brainer” to signed long-term in San Jose after his wife spent a week there. He signed a 5 year, $28.8 million extension yesterday. The Sharks feel they got a top-end defenseman at a reasonable price. The contract has a limited no-trade clause (a 3 team trade list) that doesn’t kick in until July 1st, 2012.
- Slava Malamud via twitter: 3 German teams have submitted requests to join the KHL.
- Dennis Bernstein via twitter: The Kings have 10 candidates for their bottom 6, so they don’t have much interest in Chris Drury. Also, Drury doesn’t want to leave the New York area.