Nichols' Notes
/Related: Nichols' Notes (June 16)
Related: Trade Watch: Jason Spezza Edition
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Via Mark Purdy of The Mercury News: The San Jose Sharks' TV deal with Comcast Sportsnet Bay Area, which runs for another 14 seasons and nets the team $7 million per year, is reportedly not acceptable to the team and it could impact the franchise's long-term ability to stay in the area.
Purdy writes, "How serious is the concern over the Sharks' television deal? I have learned and confirmed that National Hockey League commissioner Gary Bettman has taken the extraordinary step of personally intervening in the matter. Bettman has contacted high-level honchos at Comcast corporate offices in Philadelphia to see if the Sharks' local television deal can be reworked. Comcast is the parent company of Comcast Sportsnet Bay Area, which broadcasts Shark games. So far, the Bettman talks have not been fruitful."
A few TV deals from around the league are noted, along with quotes from team exec John Tortora.
37-year-old defenseman Willie Mitchell will be a UFA in a few weeks. Where do things stand on negotiations with the Los Angeles Kings? Lisa Dillman with The Times has the story.
"You have to ask Dean," said Mitchell. "There's lots of moving parts, I get it. There's Willie Mitchell the player. There's the salary cap. And then as a GM, you structure your team so you can have success over a long period of time. So I get it.
"If you're asking me: 'Do I want to play hockey?' Hell, yeah. To be honest, probably this playoffs is the best hockey I've played [since] 2012. Even this one round, I felt even better. For me it was a big personal accomplishment after missing last year with a couple of knee surgeries.
"As much as you don't like going through it, I think the breaks and missing hockey makes you appreciate it that much more."
See Trade Watch: Jason Spezza Edition for Calgary Flames GM Brad Treliving's comments on the recent report the Flames made an offer for the Ottawa Senators centre. In Eric Francis' Calgary Sun article with Treliving, there are also some tidbits on UFA Michael Cammalleri.
Treliving confirms the team and Cammalleri are still talking. A club official tells Francis the Flames are comfortable paying the forward around $5 million per year for a few seasons.
Another league source tells Francis that Vancouver Canucks centre Ryan Kesler will go to one of four teams, and that the Flames are not one of them. The teams are not listed in the article.
Nashville Predators GM David Poile, via The Tennessean's Josh Cooper, sets his price for trading his first round pick - which will be 11th overall.
“I’ve already been approached and … it’s a possibility,” Poile said. “There’s always that possibility I would trade that first-round pick — I’ve made that open to some people I’ve talked to. It would be for a top forward if we could do that.
“I’m not predicting that will happen, but if someone had that top-six forward I would certainly consider trading that first-round pick.”
NorthJersey.com's Tom Gulitti has a few updates from the New Jersey Devils. Bryce Salvador (inflammation of a labrum tear in his right hip) is "100 percent." Ryane Clowe (concussion) is "fine with the knowledge we know." Lou Lamorierello would like to bring back UFAs Mark Fayne, Ryan Carter, Stephen Gionta and Steve Bernier.
From the same article are agent Stephen Bartlett's thoughts on some of his other higher-profile clients.
On Brian Gionta and the Montreal Canadiens: “We’re just kind of in discussions and the next probably few days will be critical to see,” Bartlett said. “We just kind of got serious about it in the last day or two, so we’ll kind of see what kind of progress we make on that one and whether he becomes a July 1 guy.”
On Ryan Callahan and the Tampa Bay Lightning, who are having "good faith" talks: “Whether or not it gets done, it’s really hard to say for me,” Bartlett said. “I think that one could tip either way.”
On Thomas Vanek, who has continued to maintain he'll test the free agent waters: “He went through three teams in order to stick to that position and I don’t think that’s changing,” Bartlett said. “I think he’s been pretty firm on that for the last year and is going to stick by that. Nothing is going to change between now and July 1on on him, I don’t think.”
With David Booth on the way to being bought out by the Vancouver Canucks, agent Mike Liut offered this to Elliott Pap of the Vancouver Sun in terms of Booth's mindset entering free agency.
“What you’re looking for is, okay, let’s find someone who understands your game, likes you as a player and understands they’re getting you for below market value,” said Liut. “David is somebody who can score 20 goals and you need depth to win, right? No depth, no win. I expect David will play very well next year but he’s got to stay healthy and have a little bit of good luck. Everybody needs that.”
Agent Pat Morris, who represents New York Rangers forward Brad Richards and Colorado Avalanche forward Ryan O'Reilly, joined Sportsnet's Hockey Central at Noon Tuesday to discuss both cases. Richards faces a possible buyout from the Rangers, while the Avalanche have opted for arbitration with O'Reilly. Morris answered questions at length on both topics.
On O'Reilly: "We had some warning that the arb might be a situation they take advantage of. It's within the CBA. Ryan understands that. He also understands that it's unique that no player has been arbed for a paycut that is of his stature. In the old CBA, they would - you know, Zach Parise, Henrik Lundqvist, Marc-Andre Fleury were arbed by their clubs. More for the purpose of preventing offer sheets at the time. There's a new rule in place now under this CBA that an offer sheet is available from July 1 to July 5.
"Ryan would like to stay in Colorado. At the same time, a long-term deal has not been worked out or is close to being worked out. So Ryan's unrestricted in two years and under the model now, given that Colorado has arbed him, that short term looks like what the future is for Ryan going forward, possibly year-to-year or for the next two years."
On the decision the Avs made to opt for arbitration: "He wasn't caught by surprise, but in the end you always look at it - some people might look a little sideways that a team has done that to a special player, but they certainly have the business right to do it and Ryan's mature, but there's been a history a little bit on the previous contract..."
And here are Adrian Dater's thoughts on that interview.
Toronto Maple Leafs forward James van Riemsdyk joined Sportsnet 590 Tuesday morning for a wide-ranging interview, including Team USA soccer.
He was also asked about hockey analytics, the Leafs' poor possession stats and how conscious of that he and the players are of those sorts of things:
"Yeah, I think again there's a fine line with stuff like that. I mean, I'm sure... when you're getting outshot, it's obviously not an ideal circumstance; but again, at the end of the day you've got to find out how to win a game no matter what the situation is. So again, we were able to do that for a good chunk of last year and obviously things didn't go our way toward the end of the year with maybe some injury luck and different sort of things that were happening. But again, at the end of the day you don't want to get outshot every game. So that's definitely something we'll need to work on."
Ville Leino’s agent, Markus Lehto, spoke with John Vogl of The Buffalo News following word the Sabres waived his client for the purposes of a buyout.
"He wasn’t surprised," Lehto said. "He was pretty neutral about it."
As far as Leino becoming a UFA: "Free agency starts first of July, and we’ll go from there," Lehto said. "His priority is to play in the NHL. He knows he’s a very good NHL player. Obviously, the past two seasons have been just average, I would say, but I’m not going to go and try and analyze what happened. I mean, we’ll just look forward."
Aaron Portzline of the Columbus Dispatch updates the R.J. Umberger trade watch. The Columbus Blue Jackets 'are actively trying to trade' the forward, who requested a deal at the end of the season. On the weekend, Umberger gave the Blue Jackets a list of 10 NHL teams (not named in the article) to which he would not accept a trade.
New Jersey Devils GM Lou Lamoriello tells Rich Chere of The Star-Ledger it's not definite he'll use a compliance buyout by June 30.
"Absolutely not. You don't use something just for the sake of using it. If it is used it will be for the right reasons, but that's not saying it will be used," Lamoriello said.
The Detroit Red Wings are still waiting to hear from Daniel Alfredsson, according to Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press. Ken Holland does want to bring Alfredsson back if the veteran winger wants to play another season. The Wings have been in talks with Daniel Cleary on what would likely be a two-way deal. The team is also trying to see if it can trade Jordin Tootoo. If not, a compliance buyout may be in the works.