from Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet,

- Let’s empty the notebook from the GM meetings. You could tell how much they enjoyed being around each other for the first time in two years. Sadly, Melnyk’s death overshadowed everything else, not that there was anything supremely newsworthy. There was a show of hands on how many managers really felt something needs to be done with a salary cap for the playoffs. Enough hands were raised that the NHL promised to discuss it with the NHLPA, but it’s also pretty clear the league isn’t enthused about “giving up” something to change the CBA. One GM laughed last summer that none of this would be an issue if Nikita Kucherov hadn’t openly bragged about it in the aftermath of Tampa winning the Cup in 2021, and still has the same opinion. Lesson: If you don’t sell “$18M over the cap” T-shirts when you win it all, this all goes away.

- There was talk about giving officials the option to erase any major that is reviewed, and found to be an improper call. Right now, a major can be reduced to two minutes, but not entirely eliminated. That isn’t changing — for now — and one of the concerns is what was seen at the NCAA level. It led to more reviews and longer games. The NHL doesn’t want things going past two hours and 30 minutes (unless a playoff overtime). More delays and fans sitting around? No way, not wanted.

- Detroit, Minnesota and Philadelphia are believed to be among the heaviest pursuers for free-agent Ben Meyers at the University of Minnesota. Still has a Frozen Four to play, though.

- Sounds like the concern about Nathan MacKinnon is a finger. He skated on his own Wednesday. He’ll probably cut it off and score 15 playoff goals without it.

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