from Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet,

- Artemi Panarin freezing all contract talks until after the season is another earthquake reminding teams that players are more willing than ever to maximize their leverage. Eight months after Tavares took one further step than 2016 Steven Stamkos, Panarin’s preparing everyone for a similar meet-and-greet. Tampering rules prevent open statements of lust, but jockeying is underway for an audience.

This will force teams to make even earlier assessments about their star players. Trade them at the draft a year before they hit the market? One exec said his team, if unsure about ability to contend, could weigh doing it even earlier — two trade deadlines before unrestricted free agency....

- Buffalo is like Montreal. The Sabres do not want to use their best assets on rentals. I could see them looking at someone like Carl Hagelin. He’d be a good fit.

- I think the KHL is going to fight hard to keep Pavel Datsyuk.

- Alluded to this last week, but the NHL is indeed investigating a game in Russia as a possibility for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Just not sure of all the hurdles.

more on the first topic plus other Thoughts...