from Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun,
While free agency doesn’t officially open until noon on Canada’s 150th birthday, the party already started Sunday when the league’s 31 teams were allowed to reach out to UFA’s even though no deals can be officially done until the market is open.
That’s why before Dorion left Chicago Sunday, he planned to pick up the phone or meet with representatives for goalie Mike Condon along with forwards Viktor Stalberg, Tom Pyatt and Tommy Wingels. All four are UFA’s and the Senators would like to bring all of them back but they can’t do so at any cost.
There had been progress made in talks with all four players before the focus shifted to the expansion draft for the Vegas Golden Knights and since all the players knew they weren’t going to be protected they didn’t want to sign any deals. Now, other teams can enter the mix which only makes the job of keeping them more difficult.
The most interesting situation to watch is backup goalie Mike Condon. He did an outstanding job in Craig Anderson’s absence during the regular season, but the two sides weren’t even on the same page when discussions were called off before the playoffs began, however, they did move closer in talks more recently.
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