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– Kris Letang has turned down an 8 year, $56M offer from the Penguins. Letang (or his agent) is looking for a $7.5M – $8M deal, but the Pens, having just signed Malkin to a monster deal, look to be handcuffed and may be forced to trade the defenseman before free agency begins. The Penguins don’t pick until the 3rd round of Sunday’s draft. Could they offer up Letang to someone like the Avalanche or Panthers and land a top draft pick? I guess we’ll find out in a couple days.
If Toronto wants a shot at Letang, it would probably take Jake Gardiner and Nikolai Kulemin.
– The Pens did re-sign Chris Kunitz to a 3 year, $11.55M deal. They still have Pascal Dupuis and Matt Cooke to re-sign and Brooks Orpik has one year remaining.
– The Blackhawks are shopping center Dave Bolland around and have put Steve Montador and Rostislav Olesz on waivers.
– The Bruins will not be re-signing Jaromir Jagr or Andrew Ference.
– The Tampa Bay Lightning will be buying out long time captain Vincent Lecavalier. The buyout will cost $30M over 14 years. Lecavalier will receive his $8M bonus paid out over the next three years. He’ll definitely be signed somewhere else, maybe Montreal, but many people think he’ll do a one year deal, then return to Tampa to finish his career.
– The Washington Capitals buyout candidates are Jeff Schultz, Joel Ward, Brooks Laich and Martin Erat. Schultz has already asked for a trade, but who would want him for that price, so the Caps will probably end up buying him out. Ward is a possibility, unless he gets traded during the draft. He carries a $4M cap hit. Great role player, but not that for the price. I’d be very shocked if Laich goes anywhere, unless his injuries are more severe than they’re letting on. Erat could go, but I think GMGM will hold on to him for another year and let him gel with whoever ends up being the number 2 center next season.
– Josh Rimer is reporting that the Flyers have held discussions with the Sabres about Ryan Miller. Now that the Flyers have cap space with the buyouts of Briere and Bryzgalov, this could be a very real possibility.
– Bruins Patrice Bergeron has been under observation at a hospital since Game 6. Boston Globe: It was revealed that Bergeron played with a broken rib, torn cartilage, a separated shoulder that occurred in Game 6 and has a small hole in his lung according to GM Peter Chiarelli. #beast
– The Avalanche have made one move, trading Shane O’Brien and David Jones to the Calgary Flames for former Av Alex Tanguay and Cory Sarich. Tanguay comes back to the Avalanche who traded him in 2006. He brings some veteran leadership to a very young team and is a great replacement for Milan Hejduk who is all but retired.
– Gary Bettman in regards to the City of Glendale council meeting on July 2nd to vote on a proposed lease agreement for Jobing.com Arena that would house the Coyotes, “I don’t want to be more specific than I’m going to be, but if the council doesn’t approve it so this transaction can close, I don’t think the Coyotes will be playing there anymore.” The NHL has run out of patience is seems and the idea that the Coyotes will be shipped off to Seattle is very real. They would play in the 51 year old Key Arena if they did move to Seattle until their new home is finished by the 2015 season. Quebec City is the other option, but that would leave the new conferences very unbalanced. Seattle is also trying to get an NBA team there again.
The NHL has also made multiple schedules for the Coyotes, Seattle and other scenarios.
– Bettman also said that the NHLPA, IOC and IIHF are meeting Monday to discuss an agreement that would let NHL players participate in the 2014 Sochi Olympics. Bettman has the final say on the matter in regards to the NHL’s position.
– Penguins Coach Dan Bylsma has won the head coaching position for the 2014 Sochi Olympics over John Tortorella and Peter Laviolette. USA GM David Poile will have Penguins GM Ray Shero as assiciate GM and Brian Burke as director of player development. It sure looks like the NHL will be in the Olympics.
More to come…
