from Chris Nichols of Nichols On Hockey... Darren Dreger was on Leafs Lunch today...

As part of a longer discussion on the Columbus Blue Jackets and Panarin in the wake of the statement released by his agent Monday, Dreger shared a few tidbits related to the potential unrestricted free agent market for the star forward.

“I’m telling you this: For a mid-market team like Columbus, or any team - and I’m going to include Pittsburgh into this grouping, St. Louis, I mean these are teams with good rosters - for them to get in on Panarin, they’re going to have to overpay,” indicated Dreger. “They’re going to have to overpay, because I think geographically that matters to him.

“So I’m looking at the Islanders - I think Panarin would love to play with Mat Barzal. I’m looking at even the Philadelphia Flyers, depending on what happens. I didn’t know this, maybe you guys did and it slipped under my radar - apparently Philadelphia came real close to acquiring Panarin at the draft last year.

more teams mentioned...