"I
think there are certain pressure points in terms of getting a deal
done and [the draft] is one of them," Shero said Wednesday
after the NHL general managers met prior to Game 4 of the Stanley Cup
Final. "Ideally I'd like to have some sort of deal done by
next week so I know what I'm doing and so I know things that might
come our way, what we have. We'll see what happens with Kris in the
next week. I think we'll have a much better idea of where we stand
and what he's thinking."
Shero
recently had a breakfast meeting with Letang's agent, Kent Hughes. "I
don't think I need five days of meetings to find out what the market
value is for the player," Shero said. "I think I
have a pretty decent understanding of what the market can be."
Shero
said his focus is solely on negotiating a new contract for Letang.
"I'm
not talking to teams about this player at all,"
Shero said. "I'm
talking to Kris
Letang's agent because my hope is to get a deal with Kris
Letang. We have a number of other decisions to make as well
internally, but this is one of them and an important one."
Another
is potentially signing forward Pascal
Dupuis to a new contract. Dupuis, who scored 20 goals for the
second straight season, can become an unrestricted free agent July 5.
"Had
a couple of discussions and we'll get back to them later in the week
or the weekend,"
Shero said. "It's
another important player for us that I'd like to try to retain."
PHOENIX
- Coyotes
GM Don Maloney
said legal language issues and the state of the franchise and where
it will be located next season are holding up his ability to sign
coach Dave
Tippett to an extension. "It's
the comfort that he rightly deserves, where he's going to be coaching
next year,"
Maloney said. "That's
important and I get it. He's a very wanted commodity."
Tippett's
contract expires June 30, and Maloney said his hope is to have a new
deal in place by that date because he doesn't want to risk losing
Tippett to another team. "I firmly believe if it got to July
there would be more than the remaining one or two jobs that are open
now," Maloney said. "I'm hopeful we can get
something done with Tip sooner rather than later. That's hopefully
before July 1. That's my hope, but no guarantees."
Maloney
said he has had conversations with the agent for goalie Mike
Smith (Kurt Overhardt), but the uncertainty around Tippett and
the coaching staff is what is holding up a potential contract
extension. Smith is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent
July 5. "We've
had regular communication and I said to him, once we know that
everybody is back, then we can realistically say if we're playing
here, here or here, this is the staff that will be coaching you,"
Maloney said of Smith. "He's
important to us and let's see if there is a deal there that makes
sense."
Dallas
- Stars GM Jim
Nill said he is still going through the process of finding a
coach and he has not set a deadline for when he'd like to have one in
place. Lindy
Ruff and John Tortorella are among the coaches who reportedly
have interviewed for the job.
"Lots
of names still to look at,"
Nill said. "I
am not going to have a set deadline. We may wake up in two days and
have a decision, but it might be another two weeks. We're going to
stay in the process."
Nill
said he does not have to have a coach in place by the draft.
TORONTO
- Maple
Leafs GM Dave Nonis said he likely will be using one of the two
compliance buyouts all teams have available to them in order to
provide relief with the salary cap going down to $64.3 million in
2013-14. "Distinct
possibility,"
Nonis said.
Speculation
is it will be defenseman Mike
Komisarek, who has one year remaining on a contract that carries
a $4.5 million salary-cap value. Starting 48 hours after the Stanley
Cup Final ends until prior to the start of free agency, teams have
the ability to buy out as many as two healthy players for two-thirds
of the remaining value of their contract spread out over double the
years left. The player's salary will not count toward the team's
salary cap after the buyout takes effect.
The New
York Rangers (Wade
Redden) and Montreal
Canadiens (Scott
Gomez) were each granted accelerated compliance buyouts before
the 2012-13 season began and, as a result, each team has one
remaining. Nonis said he has not gotten too far into discussions with
the agents for potential unrestricted free agent forwards Tyler
Bozak or Clarke
MacArthur. Nonis specifically would not rule out MacArthur
returning to the Maple Leafs. He had 20 points in 40 games this
season and is coming off a two-year, $6.5 million contract. "Clarke
has done a good job for us,"
Nonis said. "I
think he's a player that fits. I would not rule out bringing Clarke
back."
CALGARY
- Flames
GM Jay Feaster said he recently spoke with goalie Miikka
Kiprusoff, who said he will likely not play next season, which is
in line with what the 36-year-old Finnish netminder was saying before
the end of the 2012-13 regular season.
"If
we had to ask him to make a decision right now, I think his decision
would be what it was at the end of the season - that he's probably
finished, but it's still early in the offseason. What we talked about
was that we'll be patient and we'll give him time and continue to
monitor that and check in."
Feaster
is trying to plan life without Kiprusoff. He said his hope is to sign
Karri Ramo
to a contract in July. Ramo was part of the trade that also brought
Michael
Cammalleri to Calgary from the Montreal
Canadiens. Feaster also talked about having Reto
Berra and Joey
MacDonald signed. However, Feaster is obviously concerned about
the position if Kiprusoff doesn't return.
"I
think whenever you have a guy like Miikka
Kiprusoff, if you're not going to have him between the pipes, I
don't think you have a great comfort level,"
Feaster said. "We'll
see how it shakes out."
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