from Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun,

- Keep an eye on Washington Capitals defenceman Karl Alzner, who will be a unrestricted free agent on July 1. The Vegas Golden Knights didn’t waste any time reaching out to Alzner, who made $2.8 million in the final year of his deal with the Caps last season. The 28-year-old Alzner had three goals and 13 points in 82 games last year but he was a solid plus-23. You can expect four or five teams are going to take a run at Alzner.

- There’s a lot of talk the Rangers could move centre Derek Stepan, who has a $6.5 million cap hit that will run through the 2020-21 season. No, the Rangers haven’t been holding an auction by any stretch of the imagination, but the talk is GM Jeff Gorton is listening to see what teams might be willing to offer on Stepan.

- The Winnipeg Jets are still scouring the market for a goaltender. Don’t be surprised if they at least study the possibility of signing UFA Brian Elliott, who spent last season with the Calgary Flames.

- The word is GM Joe Sakic is having a hard time with the marketplace for Duchene because he struggled so badly last season with only 18 goals and 41 points in 77 games with the Avs. With two years and $12.5 million le...ft on his deal, there are only so many teams that can get involved in those kinds of discussions and Duchene doesn’t have the kind of value Sakic might be looking for in return.

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