from Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet,

- One team to watch if and when Claude Giroux talks get serious: Florida. No guarantees, but it makes a lot of sense for everyone involved.

Philadelphia deployed operatives to watch both the Avalanche and the AHL Colorado Eagles last week. That signals Philadelphia’s priority isn’t necessarily a first-round draft pick, but a prospect who is ready to compete at the NHL level. It fits with what GM Chuck Fletcher and Comcast Spectacor Chairman and CEO Dave Scott said last month: that the Flyers want to be right back in the thick of things next season. One player I could see Philly liking is not in either of those two places: defenceman Drew Helleson from NCAA Boston College, currently competing at the Olympics. He was taken 47th overall in 2019, a real nice pick by the Avalanche.

- A couple people told me Chicago, at one point, indicated it was thinking of interviewing something like 20 people for the GM job. I don’t think that’s still the case, but it sounds like there’s at least one more interview this week. This is going to be interesting. There’s definitely a push for “non-traditional.” Ultimately will be interesting to see who makes the final call.

I found Patrick Kane’s comments about the GM search to be pretty interesting. Asked by The Athletic’s Mark Lazerus if he wanted to have a voice with the new GM, Kane replied, “You know a lot about the league. So I think it’d be smart to lean on players, whether you’re asking about other guys in the league or guys on your team. It’s definitely something that I feel management can lean on, and (I’d) be happy to give answers if they ask.”

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