Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal: The Oilers have until June 25th to decide whether to send qualifying offers to their 9 RFAs. Cam Barker is likely gone. They are trying to trade Linus Omark at the draft rather than qualify him. The Oilers will certainly send offers to Sam Gagner, Jeff Petry and Devan Dubnyk. Theo Peckham will likely get qualified, same with AHLer Chris VandeVelde. Hunter Tremblay and Alex Plante are iffy. The Rangers are doubtful to part with Chris Kreider in a Rick Nash deal, but they could dangle Artem Anisimov, Brandon Dubinsky, Derek Stepan, Michael Del Zotto and a 1st round pick. The Blackhawks are asking lots of questions about Malcolm Subban, they draft at #18. Matheson is hearing that the Kings don’t want to trade Jonathan Bernier until they have Jonathan Quick signed to a contract extension. The parameters for Bernier may have been set by the Anders Lindback deal, 2 2nd round picks. The Blue Jackets may not be as sold on Bernier than they were with Lindback. Former Oilers coach Tom Renney spoke with the Capitals about their vacant head coaching position. If the Oilers draft Ryan Murray instead of Nail Yakupov, the Blue Jackets may go with Filip Forsberg over another Russian. Do the small Canadiens then draft another small player in Yakupov (5′ 11″)?
Don Brennan of the Ottawa Sun: Senators defenseman Erik Karlsson on contract talks:
“Even though we’re early in the discussions, I think we both have a very good dialogue about how things are going to get done. (GM) Bryan (Murray) is a reasonable person. I respect him a lot. I think he knows what to do and the guys I have on my side are very professional as well. They know what to do. Hopefully, it’s not going to be an issue where we don’t see eye-to-eye and don’t agree on things.
“I’m not going to do anything to jeopardize my future on the team.”
“I think we’re still in the early stages of things, but everything has been going really well,” Karlsson said. “I feel we have no rush. I think we know where we are with each other. I want to stay and they want to keep me. We have no real issues with each other. We also know that there’s a lot of other things that need to be done as well.
“I don’t think we’re going to have any problems when it comes to signing a new contract.”
Dmitry Chesnokov via twitter: Radulov’s Russian agent told Izvestiya newspaper the Radulov has made a decision on where he’ll play next year and implied it would be the KHL.
Dustin Leed via twitter: From separate sources, they said that the Rangers will end up trading for Rick Nash.
Stefan G:son via twitter: Samuel Pahlsson was just recently announced as a Modo (SEL) player.
Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun: Roberto Luongo is now the best option for Maple Leafs after the Penguins trading/signing Tomas Vokoun and the Lightning trading for Anders Lindback. Free agent options for the Leafs could be Josh Harding, Scott Clemmensen and Chris Mason. The Bruins could trade Tim Thomas to a low cap team like the Avalanche or Islanders. Zach Parise is leaning towards staying in New Jersey. If he’s unsigned on July 1st, he’ll get interest from the Kings and Red Wings.
Lance Hornby of the Toronto Sun: The Maple Leafs are expected to be one of the leading teams after Justin Schultz. Brian Burke drafted him. The Ducks may look to trade his rights before June 24th.
Bucky Gleason of the Buffalo News: Gleason thinks Zach Parise is too expensive for the Sabres. A couple players who would look good in a Sabres uniform are Ryan Malone and Jarret Stoll. Jordan Staal would be nice, but the cost to acquire and re-sign would be high. The Cost to acquire Paul Stastny would be less. If Gleason were the GM, he’d be aggressively shopping Derek Roy and Andrej Sekera and listening to offers for Ryan Miller. Stastny carries a $6.6 million hit, while only producing 21 goals and 53 points. He did produce over 70 points in 3 of his first 4 years. Gleason offers one of the Sabres 1st round picks and Roy and/or Sekera?
Larry Brooks of the NY Post: Source confirms that the Rangers are after Rick Nash again. At the trade deadline, Blue Jackets GM Scott Howson was after Chris Kreider; Derek Stepan or Carl Hagelin; Ryan McDonagh or Michael Del Zotto; plus Brandon Dubinsky and a 1st round pick. The Sharks, Flyers, Hurricanes, and maybe the Maple Leafs and Bruins are interested. If the Rangers included Kreider, a deal would likely get done. Alexander Radulov is believed to heading back to the KHL.
Daren Millard via twitter: Heard Blue Jackets GM Scott Howson is talking to all teams about a lot of players. He’s not limiting teams to Rick Nash’s “list.”
Matthew Coller of ESPN: Offseason need and fixes. Boston Bruins – backup goalie, sign Dominik Hasek. Buffalo Sabres – defensive center, sign Sami Pahlsson. Toronto Maple Leafs – veteran goalie, sign Josh Harding. Montreal Canadiens – playmaking right winger, sign P.A. Parenteau. Ottawa Senators – Stay-at-home defenseman, sign Barret Jackman.
Arthur Staple of Newsday: Oilers GM Steve Tambellini said this week that he has no plans to trade the 1st overall pick, but will listen to offers. The Rangers could be looking at trade targets like: Rick Nash, Bobby Ryan, Ryan Getzlaf, Shea Weber and Tobias Enstrom. Islanders GM Garth Snow is looking hard for a defenseman. Possible defenseman could be Jay Bouwmeester, Keith Ballard, Paul Martin and Zbynek Michalek.
Katie Strang via twitter: The Rangers have extended qualifying offers to Mats Zuccarello, Anton Stralman and Michael Del Zotto.