from Greg Wyshynski of ESPN, There's no reason to punish successful teams in the name of faux parity. There's no reason why a luxury tax system couldn't ultimately benefit those teams closer to the floor. There's no reason why a smart approach to exceeding a soft cap -- like restrictions on what kinds of players you can have an overage to sign, like for example players your team originally drafted -- can't result in some semblance of fiscal sanity within a freer market. Spare me the anxieties about what a system like this could mean for future work stoppages to "correct" the market. We had them before the cap. We've had them after the cap. What we don't have is an equitable system for good teams and great players. much more, weighing the pros and cons...

from Brett Cyrgalis of the New York Post, The prevailing thought in the NHL is that the prize of the free-agent market, winger Artemi Panarin, has narrowed his choices to the Rangers, Islanders and Panthers. Florida is believed to be the leading contender for Panarin because there are no state taxes and the Panthers have hired his former coach with the Blackhawks, Joel Quenneville, but the Rangers and Islanders cannot be ruled out. No offers can formally be made until the opening of the market on Monday but it is believed Panarin and his camp will finish this week-long courting period that began Sunday having met with at least all three teams to get a feeling of what might work best.... The Rangers are surely interested in Panarin, but the demand of a seven-year deal worth somewhere between $11 million-$12 million per year might be too pricey. It also wouldn’t match the value the Panthers would be able to offer because of Florida’s lack of income tax. That is a similarly attractive selling point for free-agent goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, a fellow Russian who played with Panarin in Columbus. more on the Rangers

RALEIGH, NC – Don Waddell, President and General Manager of the National Hockey League’s Carolina Hurricanes, today announced that the team has acquired forward Erik Haula from the Vegas Golden Knights in exchange for forward Nicolas Roy and a conditional fifth-round selection in the 2020 NHL Draft. “Erik is a skilled, experienced player who has been productive at even strength and on special teams,”said Waddell. “We expect him to be healthy and ready to go for training camp.”

from Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times, NHL Seattle has filed an application for an American Hockey League (AHL) expansion franchise that would begin play in a new 10,000-seat arena in Palm Springs, Calif. by 2021. The arena would be a joint-venture between the California-based Oak View Group (OVG) — which is also undertaking a $930-million rebuilding of KeyArena for this city’s incoming NHL franchise – and the Palm Springs-based Agua Caliente Indian tribe. The privately-financed, 300,000-square-foot arena would be built on 16 acres of tribal land in Palm Springs and serve as home to the primary minor league feeder club for Seattle’s soon-to-be NHL team. NHL Seattle had also looked at the possibility of acquiring and relocating an existing AHL team but will instead look to start up a brand new one if the AHL approves the application. The most recent AHL expansion franchises sold in the $5 million range. continued

People are talking about the great "RFA class". Like it's draft night, or the player's are UFA's. Let's see how teams are calling, vs the agent calling, and how many are calling about possible trade vs offer sheet. — Shawn Simpson (@TSNSimmer) June 26, 2019

from Ted Kulfan of the Detroit News, To get a pretty good read into what kind of hockey player Albin Grewe is, just ask him who is favorite player is. Here’s a hint: it’s not the likes of Connor McDavid, Sidney Crosby or Dylan Larkin. He’s much more of an agitator. How about Brad Marchand? “I always play as I do,” said Grewe, given the nickname "T-Rex" by a junior coach because he eats everyone below the food chain, after his workout Wednesday at the Red Wings’ development camp. “Then I also watched Brad Marchand, and l like what he (does).” Grewe was the Red Wings’ third-round selection last weekend. If he turns out to be half the player Marchand has become — pest-like qualities on the ice, and all — everyone around the organization, front office to fans, likely would be fans. continued

from Roberto Luongo at FloridaPanthers.com, There's a lot I want to say. This is one of the toughest decisions I've faced in my life and it took me a long time to make it. After thinking about it a lot over the past two months and listening to my body, I made up my mind. It just feels like the right time for me to step away from the game. I love the game so much, but the commitment I required to prepare, to keep my body ready, has become overwhelming. Since I had my hip surgery a couple of years ago, I've been showing up two hours before every practice and three hours before every game to work out my hip. Even at night, whether it was the night before a game or even a night off, there I was rolling out, doing strengthening exercises. My entire life revolved around recovery, strengthening and making sure I was ready to go the next day. I was willing to make that sacrifice because I love the game, I love being part of it, being in the action and competing with my teammates. I was willing to go through it all for my love of hockey. After this season ended and I had an opportunity to step away, I started thinking about things. continued A look at his career is below.

via the Philadelphia Flyers, The Philadelphia Flyers announced they have re-signed goaltender Brian Elliott to a one-year contract extension worth an average annual value (AAV) of $2.0 million, according to Executive Vice President & General Manager Chuck Fletcher. "Brian has played well for us the last two seasons," said Fletcher. "He is a proven, quality goaltender who competes and battles hard every time he has the net. We are excited to have him rejoin our team."

GLENDALE, ARIZONA --- Arizona Coyotes President of Hockey Operations and General Manager John Chayka announced today that the Coyotes have signed Phil Housley to a multi-year contract to serve as an assistant coach on Head Coach Rick Tocchet's staff. As per club policy, terms of the contracts were not disclosed. "Phil is a great addition to our coaching staff," said Chayka. "His experience as a player, combined with his success overseeing defensive units, make him a perfect fit for this job. We're all excited to work with him and leverage his knowledge of the game to make us better." "I'm very pleased to add Phil to our coaching staff," said Coyotes Head Coach Rick Tocchet. "Phil is a tremendous coach and his experience and knowledge of the game will be invaluable to our defensemen."  

The live stream is scheduled to start at 11:30am ET, watch below.

from Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet, - Pavelski declined visits in a couple of places where he thought the teams weren’t close enough to winning. All eyes are on Dallas and Tampa Bay, although Chicago may try to convince him to visit. The Stars are determined to add scorers. - I could see Gustav Nyquist and Columbus. - Steve Yzerman wasn’t the only one who sees the potential in German defenceman Moritz Seider, who Detroit took sixth overall. Mark Seidel of North American Central Scouting had him fifth. - These will be the Final 31 Thoughts of the 2018-19 season. Can’t thank you enough for reading; the blog would not exist without your consumption. Thank you to the editors who have to grind through this muck.... more on the last Thought plus many more

Dan Rosen of NHL.com answers questions from fans, the first on regarding Corey Perry. I firmly believe that a healthy Perry can be a 25-goal scorer in the right system and with the right center distributing him the puck. He wasn't healthy last season after having knee surgery in September and it clearly hurt his production (10 points in 31 games). Perry is three seasons removed from the last time he was a 30-goal scorer (34 in 2015-16). He had 19 goals in 82 games in 2016-17 and 17 in 71 games in 2017-18 before dropping to six this season. Perry could be a perfect fit for the Colorado Avalanche, Dallas Stars, Nashville Predators and San Jose Sharks, depending on what happens with forward Joe Pavelski and potentially Patrick Marleau, if he's bought out by the Carolina Hurricanes and wants to return to the team he spent his first 19 seasons with. If Marleau is bought out, the Hurricanes also could be a fit for Perry. The Avalanche, Stars and Predators need secondary scoring. Nashville is likely in the market for center Matt Duchene, and if it can sign him, Perry would likely be out of the picture. read on and other questions and answers too...

from Chris Johnston of Sportsnet, When it became apparent that Mitch Marner might use the restricted free agent interview window to meet with rival teams, members of the Toronto Maple Leafs front office looked back and found just one documented case where that had happened in a decade. Shea Weber explored that avenue on the way to signing a $110-million, 14-year offer sheet in July 2012, and no one else has done it — at least not in a public manner — since. While it still remains to be seen if Marner will actually travel for meetings in other cities, it’s clear that he and his agent want to get the lay of the land through phone conversations. That’s fully within their CBA-negotiated rights and it should finally answer a question that’s been asked repeatedly in this city and beyond: Will somebody actually step forward and give the 22-year-old winger an offer sheet? continued

from Ed Graney of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, “We are going to have to make a few moves, and we have planned for that,” said McPhee, incoming president of hockey operations. “We are going through that exercise right now, and when we’re done, we’ll talk about it and explain it. … We’ll be tight this year on the cap.” Some moves would be much easier to explain than others. Here’s one possibility: McPhee shifts enough salary to bring the Knights in line with the $81.5 million cap for this season while keeping the team’s top six forwards together and hoping goalie Marc-Andre Fleury doesn’t show any level of serious decline at age 34. Such a scenario could potentially deliver a Cup over the next few seasons and earn McPhee a hero’s standing in the history of Las Vegas sports. That’s the uncomplicated version of things. This is the other version: In order to shed enough cap space — the Knights are reportedly $7.5 million over after Karlsson’s deal — the team could trade a top-six forward such as Max Pacioretty and his $7 million annual salary, signaling that those hamstrung contracts McPhee insists his team doesn’t have actually exist. Pacioretty has been reported as one who could be moved, and the player carries the sort of cap hit that could immediately solve a chunk of those issues. more

from Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press, Detroit Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman delivered a message on the eve of development camp that piqued the interest of one prospect in particular Center Joe Veleno, who will embark on his pro career in the fall, was part of the Team Howe group that went through on-ice testing and shooting drills on the first day of development camp Tuesday at Little Caesars Arena. Development camp is as much about instilling good habits off the ice — what to eat, when to eat, the importance of sleep, how to optimize workouts — and the five-day event kicked off with a dinner highlighted by a speech from Yzerman, two months into his reign as general manager. “He was telling us there are going to be a lot of open spots and it doesn’t matter if you’re a first-round pick or an invite, everyone is battling for a position,” Veleno said. “Everyone is out here to showcase something.” continued