from Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet,

- Not a lot new on the Drouin watch. Originally, there was a lot of talk about Robby Fabbri (I’m guilty of this one), but I don’t think that’s the case anymore. St. Louis continues to have interest, although Fabbri’s inclusion seems unlikely. They like him and he’s fit in nicely. Also heard Detroit snooped around, but it’s hard to see a trade match.

- One opposing GM made a good point about Hurricanes. If they do let both Eric Staal and Cam Ward walk, how will they reach the salary floor?

Carolina is around $11M above the baseline with $25-$30M coming off the payroll. None of their young core need extensions yet. It’s an interesting question, because you want that flexibility.

They’ll have all summer to figure it out, and plenty of options to “help” others needing financial freedom.

- Teammate Erik Karlsson leads the NHL with 17 30-minute games this season. Ryan Suter is second with 12, Drew Doughty third with 10.

Since the NHL began publicly noting per-game time on ice, Brian Leetch has the most 30-minute games in one year, with 38 in 2000-01. Ryan Suter had 37 in 2013-14.

With 32 games to go, Karlsson’s going to give these guys a run. Against the Islanders, the second game of a back-to-back, he played 32:45. The next-highest Ottawa defender? Patrick Wiercioch, at 19:48. Marc Methot was not in the lineup.

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