from Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet,

- At this time, Ottawa will not place Josh Norris on long-term injury. There’s hope he could play by next week. But it’s a guessing game, because, as head coach DJ Smith repeated on Tuesday, “I never expected Josh would not play game one.”

The easiest thing is to put Norris on LTIR so they have the freedom to sign Shane Pinto; punt your cap problems for at least 24 days. But if the player or doctors don’t agree, it’s not going to happen. The Senators and Pinto aren’t anywhere in the same galaxy on a one-year contract, but not far apart on a multi-year deal. You know how it gets. Each side feels they’ve conceded enough, so it’s hard to punch it over the goal line. Adding to the equation: Ottawa’s cap-tightness and a player’s frustration at not being able to go at the start of a season.

- There was never any doubt Rasmus Dahlin would extend with Buffalo. The bigger question was term. After Auston Matthews signed for four seasons, there was talk Dahlin would copy that plan, go shorter term and leave room for one more massive contract. The Sabres pushed hard for eight years from the beginning. Ultimately, Dahlin, very happy in Buffalo, agreed. It’s a win-win. I’ll bet on that contract aging very well.

Buffalo undoubtedly wanted to announce both Dahlin and Owen Power at the same time. Again, there’s nothing to worry about for Sabres fans, it will happen. But a recent push to try and get both done at once fell short.

- One player said something very interesting: that he feels many of his peers are quicker to take extensions now because of how tight the cap’s been. If you’re a super-duperstar, you don’t have to worry. But for many others, it’s nowhere near as certain. Things are going to open-up next summer, so we’ll get a real test of this overall feeling.

- I'm not sure the pride-tape ban is enforceable, and there are players thinking about ignoring it. Initially, teams wondered if Hockey Fights Cancer ties were also banned.

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