Nichols' Notes
/New Pittsburgh Penguins head coach Mike Johnston was interviewed by The Tribune-Review’s Josh Yohe. Part of the Q&A mentions Johnston’s recent lunch with team captain Sidney Crosby and what the bench boss learned from that meeting.
“Whenever you're a new coach, you want to get to know the person before anything else. I know him a little bit because we're from the same place, but I wanted to know more. I wanted to know what he does in the summer, who he trains with, what he's up to. His program is so regimented, and he works so hard in the summer. I loved hearing about it. We talked about lots of things. We talked about what it was like for him to become a star at such a young age. That was interesting to me. I didn't get into the playoffs. I didn't ask him what went wrong. I watched those games as a spectator, and I will watch them again on tape soon. I'll develop my own impressions.”
Nashville Predators defenseman Seth Jones has stuck around town for the summer, working closely with the training staff as he develops toward his second NHL campaign. The young rearguard tells The Tennessean’s Josh Cooper he’s already added five pounds of muscle to his frame.
"Physically he needs to mature more," assistant coach Phil Housley said. "He has to get stronger on his feet. He has to get more leverage, starting with the basic foundation of his legs up. That's just going to come with maturity and having seasons of working out as he grows. Mentally, I think he's mature."
Housley also saw Jones turn in a stellar performance at the world championships, where Team USA’s Jones was named top defenseman.
"He was one of the guys we had to lean on," said Housley, who was a Team USA assistant. "Here's a guy who has a 1994 birthdate, and being named the best defenseman of the tournament. That says a lot about him in his development, and I think he's going to really gain some confidence. Hopefully he can use that experience."
The Stanley Cup champion Los Angeles Kings have already sold out their season tickets (which has a base of 16,000) for the 2014-15 campaign, as detailed by The Times' Lisa Dillman.
The Kings also won the Cup in 2012, but that momentum was slowed by the lockout.
"That's what we lost last time," Kelly Cheeseman, the Kings' chief operating officer, said. "We knew the Kings fans, the hockey fans were going to be there. It's the new fans. Those are the ones we want to turn in 30-, 40-year fans. That's the momentum we need to keep, and we're excited to see that.
"A lot of the newer season-ticket holders are people that had basketball and baseball tickets for years. We want to make sure they're here for the long term."
The Globe and Mail's James Mirtle outlines the arbitration cases involving Cody Franson and James Reimer of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Franson is coming off a one-year, $2 million contract. Mirtle indicates that with the farcical natures of these hearings, Franson's camp has come into arbitration with a $4.2 million figure, while the Leafs have countered with the exact same $2 million salary.
Mirtle: The scuttlebutt on the weekend, however, was that they were close enough on a deal that they can come to a compromise in the $3.2-million range right before the hearing takes place, avoiding further nastiness and giving the Leafs a number they can then shop around the league.
A source tells Aaron Portzline with The Dispatch that the agent for RFA Ryan Johansen recently extended a second contract offer to the Columbus Blue Jackets. The source indicated this offer is a two-year bridge deal, rather than a long-term extension. The team has wanted the former to keep Johansen hungry and improving, while the player’s camp had been seeking the latter.
Portzline terms this development “significant progress.”
The agent, Kurt Overhardt, reiterated to Portzline that Johansen wants to be in Columbus. Overhardt also declined to comment on whether or not he has negotiated with any other teams for an offer sheet.
"There's a definitive market for a player like Ryan," Overhardt said. "He's an elite young forward.
"We'll continue to work to reach an accord."
In a story posted Saturday on the Columbus Blue Jackets’ web site, president of hockey operations John Davidson updates the Johansen contract talks as well. The quote noted in the story is only partially what Davidson says in the included video, so here’s the full scope of what JD offers up about RJ.
"Jarmo’s still working with Johansen's camp,” Davidson said. “We're a team that feels if we have players that earn it, we will certainly respond with appropriate contracts. We’re in a position here where we're working with their camp trying to figure out what exactly is the right thing to do. We like Ryan Johansen, obviously, who wouldn't? But we’ve got to make sure. We have to be a responsible club regarding long-term contracts and there’s something called a bridge, where when you come out of entry level your first three years, you as a team following the collective bargaining agreement rules – the rules that are in place – you can sign a player to a bridge, so we can make sure. And if Ryan keeps the upward trend, he’s going to have a long, very fruitful career. But we have to make sure we protect ourselves.”
Marc Staal is entering the final season of his five-year contract and The Post's Larry Brooks believes it will cost the New York Rangers at least $5.5 million on a six-year extension, unless the defenseman sustains another concussion in 2014-15.
The Florida Panthers inked Dmitry Kulikov to a three-year, $13 million contract on Friday.
"He has so much ability and this is a fair contract, it's what guys around the league are getting paid,'' general manager Dale Tallon said, via George Richards of The Miami Herald.
"Now it's time for him to make a statement and be a leader on our team. He has all the ability in the world. He just has to channel it in the right direction. We're happy to have him in the fold. He's a great kid, still a young guy. He has tremendous ability. It's hard to find those guys.''
Kulikov only managed 8-11-19 in 81 GP last season and will be entering his sixth NHL campaign when 2014-15 gets underway, but he’s still only 23-years-old.
"He's on the upswing and still has a lot of good hockey in front of him,'' Tallon said. "He's one of our young defensemen and now he's one of those guys who needs to be a leader for our younger guys. We expect big things out of him.''
The Winnipeg Sun's Paul Friesen had some Jets-related notes Friday night. Although Lee Stempniak ended up signing a one-year, $900,000 pact with the New York Rangers over the weekend, the Jets had been looking at bringing in him. Friesen also indicated that although there has been talk about the Jets bringing in an experienced defenceman, they hadn't, at that point, reached out to Michael Del Zotto.
Buffalo Sabres GM Tim Murray spoke with the media Friday following development camp, and some of the questions pertained to the team’s five-year, $23 million contract with Tyler Ennis.
Media members did not have a mic so the audio wasn’t crystal-clear on that side of the equation, but it sounded like Murray’s first question about Ennis was if the GM viewed Ennis as a franchise-type player, a No. 1 center, one of ‘the’ guys.
“I don’t know if I can picture – hold him as that,” began Murray. “He’s a part of the team. Is he a center, is he a winger? I mean, we've talked about that with his agent and where he fits. He fits somewhere on this team. I have to look down the road when I feel we're going to be a competitive team. Is he the No. 1 center on that team? He may not be. He may be this year and next year he may be a No. 2 left winger. It depends on what we bring in here, depends how we surround him. That's going to dictate how he fits."
Did you see growth in his game?
"Sure. He had 21 goals this year on a not-very-good team playing as a No. 1 center getting the bad matchups. I thought that considering his slow start - I wasn't here for and keep being told about it - that he had a pretty successful year individually. And I think that translates - hopefully that translates into having a better year with better players around him."