from Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet,

- Carolina is not in a position to allow its potential unrestricted free agents to walk for nothing. They are far, far apart in negotiations with Micheal Ferland, so it looks like “when” not “if” for him. Pittsburgh makes sense, and so does Edmonton, but there will be others. The Hurricanes have told teams they would prefer to wait a little longer before deciding on goalies Curtis McElhinney and Petr Mrazek, although it can always change with the “offer you can’t refuse.” They are trying to re-sign another good depth winger, Jordan Martinook.

- From the moment he arrived in the NHL, Alex Ovechkin plunged into the world of promotion, trying just about anything even though English was not his first language. As a result, I’m always inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt. As part of the upcoming CBA talks, expect the NHLPA to propose a way for players to skip All-Star Weekend without punishment. Maybe, for example, you go to five, you get the option to miss one.

The idea of increasing the penalty for missing the weekend from one game to two was brought up inside the NHL, but there wasn’t anywhere near enough support for the idea, thankfully. I know people hate All-Star and think it’s a joke, but there’s a business aspect to this. NHL cities badly want to host it. Sponsors love the event — it’s a big perk for them and their clients. They love the interaction with the players. I always see a ton of kids, and even a minute with a player makes a huge difference. You want to grow your game and your revenues, you have to make nice with your sponsors. Let’s call it a necessary evil.

- Everyone’s favourite topic — escrow — comes to the forefront as talks between the NHL and NHLPA continue this week in Las Vegas. The NHL wanted a decision on the 2020 World Cup by All-Star Weekend. But that’s a small part of the overall CBA discussion, so we’re getting to more serious conversations. My sense is both sides want to extend the CBA, but there are always hurdles. Escrow is the biggest, and it’s complicated.

It is there to even the split between the players and owners, so capping it or re-jigging the formula will take major concessions from the NHLPA. There’s really not much wiggle room because there is little incentive for the NHL to budge. If I were in the union, I would work backwards, knowing that the league would probably want to decrease the length of the maximum contract (currently eight years for your own player, seven for someone else’s) and limit the amount of signing bonuses on contracts.

Could the players propose something that would satisfy the league in exchange for something? Just a thought. It will take that kind of creativity.

many more Thoughts...