Quick hits on the Sharks, Maple Leafs, Ehlers, Golden Knights, and contract extensions
David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period: The San Jose Sharks have some interest in Bowen Byram. Also in on Byram are the Los Angeles Kings, Calgary Flames, and the St. Louis Blues. The Blues are believed to be the most aggressive so far. The Sabres want NHL-ready talent. Byram could be looking for $9 million on his next deal. At least one team is considering an offer sheet for Byram. The Sabres have said they’ll match.
Before Andrew Mangiapane signed with the Edmonton Oilers, the Toronto Maple Leafs and Boston Bruins were among the interested teams.
The Maple Leafs are looking for a right winger to play with Auston Matthews.
The Utah Mammoth and Washington Capitals were two of the finalists for Nikolaj Ehlers, who signed with the Carolina Hurricanes. Believe there was a team that offered more than the $51 million he signed for.
NHL Rumors: Toronto Maple Leafs GM on Filling the Top-Six Hole
The Vegas Golden Knights are looking to move defenseman Ben Hutton.
The Golden Knights and Jack Eichel have started contract extension talks. The Minnesota Wild and Kirill Kaprizov have started contract talks, and the same with the Los Angeles Kings and Adrian Kempe.
The Washington Capitals tried to sign a big-name free agent, and their plans going forward
Tarik El-Bashir: Washington Capitals GM Chris Patrick on free agency:
“Some big names came off the board that would have been interesting for our group that we were evaluating, (but) they stayed with their current teams.
We looked to try and do something big and it didn’t go our way. But I’m excited—we did a lot of our free agency work in the season, re-signing guys like Chychrun, Dowd, Logan and Chucky. And bringing Beau back is huge for our group.”
Tarik El-Bashir: Capitals GM Patrick wouldn’t name names when asked about trying to sign a big-name free agent that didn’t work out (Nikolaj Ehlers):
“It didn’t come down to the money or the offer or the term or any of that. It was a player picking what he thought was the best situation both on and off the ice. Totally respect a guy taking his time to make the right decision for himself.”
NHL Rumors: Utah Mammoth, and the Buffalo Sabres
Tarik El-Bashir: Capitals GM Patrick on their plan going for the rest of the offseason:
“We’ll explore the trade market and see what’s out there. We sent a lot of picks out the last few weeks, so we are going to have to make sure we’re prudent how we do it. But there could potentially be some interesting names out there.
I’ve seen some of the media reports (saying) it’s going to be a very busy offseason trade-wise—I’m not sure the basis for that. A lot of teams are in a good spot cap-wise.”
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