The Bruins have maintained communication with UFA right winger Drew Stafford, CSN New England’s Joe Haggerty reports. However, it appears that at this point, a tryout offer may be what he ultimately winds up getting if he is to return to Boston.
Stafford, who rated 21st in our Top 50 Free Agents list, was an under-the-radar trade deadline acquisition for the Bruins and wound up being a serviceable player for the stretch run, where he collected eight points (4-4-8) in the final 18 games of the regular season. He’s also only a year removed from a 20-goal season so it’s likely that he’ll continue to look for a guaranteed contract for the time being over accepting a PTO offer with still more than a month to go until training camp.
More notes from around the hockey world:
- Hurricanes GM Ron Francis is still talking with other teams about possible moves, he told NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti. However, he is prepared to enter next season with the roster he has if nothing else pans out. Carolina has already added several players this offseason including new starting goaltender Scott Darling, defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk, and center Marcus Kruger while most recently inking blueliners Jaccob Slavin and Brett Pesce to long-term extensions.
- Although center Cody Eakin was selected by the Golden Knights from the Stars in the Expansion Draft, they at one time had their eyes on defenseman Stephen Johns which played a big role in Dallas protecting him, notes Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News. The 25-year-old was in and out of the lineup as part of their defensive rotation last season but since they ultimately decided to protect him from Vegas, that may give him a better shot at securing more of a full-time spot in the lineup in 2017-18.
- UFA goaltender Colin Stevens, who was under contract the past two seasons with Florida, has signed a one year deal with the Wheeling Nailers, the ECHL team announced. The Panthers declined to tender him a qualifying offer in June after the completion of his entry-level contract. Through his first two professional seasons, the 24-year-old has not yet played past the ECHL level despite a very strong run with Union College in his NCAA career.
Why Boston won’t just offer Stafford something like 800k is truly mind boggling. He played pretty well down the stretch, that’s a bargain rate for a quality 3rd line forward, they have enough cap space even if they want to be ridiculous and give Pastrnak 8 mil a year, which won’t even happen. They’d even have decent breathing room if the two of them took up 8.8 million combined. I’m not projecting that Pastrnak earns that much, which is what makes this even crazier. If they’re just waiting until after Pastrnak signs but there is a ball parked offer on the table, that’s one thing. But if they’re only offering a PTO, that’s crazy.
Because they have a lot of young guys they want to see so with a pto they won’t owe him anything if they decide to give a young player a chance if they signed him for a 1yr deal that could block that kinda of move because they would have to eat that money