- Josh Cooper of the Tennessean: Shea Weber and the Nashville Predators have an arbitration hearing set for August 2nd.
“We’ve had long talks; we seem to be coming to a bit of a stalemate. We still have time to work before the system kicks in,” Weber’s agent, Jarrett Bousquet said. “Shea would like to be a Predator. He enjoys playing there with a team that’s on the cusp of doing something great.”
- Scott Burnside of ESPN: Predators GM David Poile said on Monday they they will continue to work on re-signing Shea Weber before their arbitration hearing. If they go to the hearing, Weber has the option of choosing a 1 or 2 year deal. The Preds could walk away but the is very unlikely. Weber is eligible to be a UFA after next season.
- E.J. Hradek of NHL.com: Alex Semin’s name has come up in trade rumors numerous times over the past few years, and have surface again recently. Capitals GM George McPhee had this to say regarding the Semin rumors,
“We like Semin because he can score goals,” McPhee said Monday, squashing the latest round of Semin trade tales. “Those guys aren’t easy to find.”
“We’ve made our moves,” he continued. “I don’t anticipate us making any other changes. If I go into the season with this group, I’m fine with that.”
The Capitals are currently over the salary cap, but they don’t think that Tom Poti is going to be able to start the season with them, and his $2.875 million cap hit could go on the LTIR.
McPhee on the Semyon Varlamov trade,
“I really didn’t want to do it, but he’d indicated that was going to go to play in the KHL and I started to think of different scenarios where we could end up with nothing for him,” said McPhee, citing the ongoing Evgeni Nabokov saga. “Colorado and four other teams were interested and it just came together pretty quick.”
- Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News: A Forbes report from Mike Ozanian is saying the Dallas Stars are losing a $1 million a week due to high debt and interest payments according to a source. A Stars source said it’s “unequivocally untrue.” From what Heika sees, the Stars are paying their bills and are not bouncing any checks. The Stars are controlled by the lenders who took over when Hicks Sports Group defaulted on 3 loans. Heika adds,
I have no doubt that a smart accountant can show you a sheet of paper that says the Stars are losing $1 million a week, but who are they losing it to? To the lenders, who are paying the bills and charging the interest? That just seems like a paper loss to me.
- Erik Erlendsson via twitter: When asked why the Lightning didn’t sign Steven Stamkos to a 7-10 year deal, he responds that both sides were comfortable with 5 years from the start and there’s uncertainty of the next CBA.
- Larry Brooks of the NY Post: The Rangers and Brandon Dubinsky have an arbitration hearing set for tomorrow. They’ve been trying to get a 5 or 6 year deal done. Dubinsky is reportedly looking for a long term deal in the $5 – $5.25 million range. It’s believed that Dubinsky could get an arbitration ruling in the $3.8 – $4.4 million range.
- Terry Koshan of the Toronto Sun: Contract negotiations between the Maple Leafs and Luke Schenn will start “Certainly no later than by the end of next week,” according to Don Meehan, Schenn’s agent. The Leafs are about $4.4 million under the cap ceiling with 25 players signed. It’s likely that Meehan will negotiate with Claude Loiselle and Brian Burke.
- Greg Brady via twitter: The Red Wings are close to signing Ty Conklin, expect an announcement by Friday. George Malik via twitter: Malik is about 95% certain that the Red Wings will sign Conklin to be their backup by Friday at the latest. Craig Custance via twitter: Red Wings GM Ken Holland says they will sign a backup goalie by the end of the week.
- Ed Tait of the Winnipeg Free Press: Negotiations between Zach Bogosian and the Winnipeg Jets continue.
“The conversations are continuing with his agent,” Cheveldayoff said. “There’s no time frame set in place to have that one done by. It’s a summer-negotiation type thing. Everyone’s respectful of the fact this is a down time for players and agents and management… those talks will continue and they’ve been good.
“It’s playing out exactly how we thought it would. It’s going to take some time. Each one of the negotiations — the (Andrew) Ladd, the Wheeler, the regular RFAs (restricted free agents) and Zach all have different nuances to them.”
Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff hasn’t ruled out adding some scoring for his top 2 line.
“You’re always looking for that,” Cheveldayoff said Tuesday. “It’s got to be the right fit for the group of guys that you have. You want it to mesh together. If you look at the roster right now there is probably some room if you could add some forwards. We think our defence is pretty deep with respect to the (NHL) depth side of things.
“Certainly if the right opportunity presents itself at forward or defence we’re going to look at it. You’re always looking, you’re always talking. But to say what you see today is what you’ll see tomorrow… it’s hard to say at this time.”
- Erik Erlendsson via twitter: It’s unlikely that the Lightning are interested in Vinny Prospal, they are likely done with UFAs.
- Tom Panaccio via twitter: The Flyers will carry a $1.4 million bonus overage against the cap this year.