Craig Custance of ESPN just completed an online chat...

What would you do if you were a GM and a player asked for about double what is reasonable (Ryan Johansen). Would you even respond? I don't like how Columbus made it public but you can't reason with insanity.

Craig Custance Pat - It's a negotiation. The Johansen camp has already come off those demands. I'm not sure how I feel about Columbus' decision to go public with the offers but I do feel like they have the fanbase on their side and maybe that was the intent all along. It's made for great drama. I still think a two-year bridge deal ultimately gets done, somewhere between 3.5 - 4 million per season.

Will the bad blood from the Seabrook hit on Backes carry over to this year? If so, I cannot wait for those Blues-Hawks matchups. They, simply, just don't like each other.

Craig Custance Me too, I can't wait. I had an interesting chat with Ken Hitchcock and one of the things he stressed was that the Blues had to be better against the best teams in the league and that includes the regular season. I got the sense he's going to use those Chicago/LA/Anaheim games as a gauge as to whether or not his team has learned how to raise the level of play from the playoff shortcomings.

more