Snapshots: Meyers, Penguins, Fehr

College free agent center Ben Meyers is expected to begin interviewing with NHL teams on Sunday, reports Michael Russo of The Athletic (subscription link).  The 23-year-old is widely viewed as the top player in this year’s NCAA free agent class and to that end, Russo notes more than two dozen teams are interested in signing Meyers with his hometown team in Minnesota certainly among them.  Meyers, who was a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award, had 17 goals and 24 assists in 34 games for the Golden Gophers this season plus four points in four contests in the Olympics.  He’s expected to sign a two-year, entry-level deal that will begin this season although he will not be eligible to play in the playoffs if he signs with a team that’s heading for the postseason.

Elsewhere around the hockey world:

• The Penguins may opt to keep their better prospects in the minors instead of using them to replace injured players over the final few weeks of the season, suggests Matt Vensel of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the AHL finds themselves in a close battle for a playoff spot (or play-in position, potentially) and the developmental value of having those prospects in a close race could be more beneficial than sprinkling them into the NHL lineup on a Pittsburgh team that is comfortably in a playoff spot and is simply playing for positioning.
• Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli examines the future of NHLPA Executive Director Donald Fehr. He has officially been at the head of the association since December of 2010 and isn’t on a fixed-term contract; the post is his until he chooses to leave or is asked to.  Fehr himself indicated that a plan to transition to his successor “won’t be soon” but Seravalli suggests there is a level of discontentment that could necessitate a change before Fehr wants to step aside.