Minnesota Wild general manager Chuck Fletcher and coach Mike Yeo will speak at a news conference Saturday, a good sign both will be back next season. That leaves the goalie situation as the franchise’s top priority for 2013-14. Niklas Backstrom is 35 and an unrestricted free agent, and as well as Josh Harding played in the playoffs, he is [...]

Quick Hits from around the league: Darren Helm has inked a four-year contract worth $8.5 million with the Detroit Red Wings. In 68 games with Detroit in 2011-12, he generated nine goals and 17 assists. Helm would’ve been eligible to be a restricted free agent in July. His regular season was cut short by a sprained [...]

It appears the Detroit Red Wings will look to add a new No. 2 goaltender this off season. MLive.com’s Ansar Khan reports the Red Wings will likely sign a free-agent veteran as backup to No. 1 Jimmy Howard. Khan suggests Tomas Vokoun, Scott Clemmensen, Josh Harding, Johan Hedberg, and Martin Biron as suitable candidates. Harding is expected to pursue a starter’s gig, while Vokoun’s name has [...]

If and when Cory Schneider becomes available this off season, there will be a list of teams waiting to take him off the Vancouver Canucks hands. It is expected that Vancouver will try to move the young, talented netminder before or at the NHL Entry Draft. Keeping Schneider makes little sense with Roberto Luongo locked in until 2022. Who would be [...]

Terry Koshan of the Toronto Sun acknowledges the possibility that Jonas Gustavsson has played his last game in a Maple Leaf’s uniform. Gustavsson is an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season. With James Reimer signed for two more years after this, the Leafs (and their fans) have made no secret about being disappointed with the play in [...]

The Toronto Maple Leafs may be doing a lot this summer, but the two primary goals will be to add a goalie and to chase an elite forward. Rick Nash is obviously the one guy we know will hit the market, but the Ottawa Sun’s Bruce Garrioch thinks the Leafs could also try to “pry Ryan Getzlaf out of Anaheim.” Though Bobby Ryan may [...]

Edmonton Oiler Nikolai Khabibulin has one year left on his deal and the team probably won’t buy him out, since they wouldn’t get cap relief from that move unless there’s an amnesty clause in the new collective bargaining agreement. As for Devan Dubnyk, he’s hitting restricted free agency this summer and they need to decide if they’ll give [...]

NHL trade rumors from around the league: According to Hockey Night in Canada’s Elliotte Friedman, the Blue Jackets would prefer to trade Jeff Carter to the Los Angeles Kings. St. Louis Blues’ Ben Bishop, which has led to plenty of trade interest from suitors. TrueHockey.com’s Andy Strickland writes, “I’m told some have started to back off. Many clubs believe they [...]

The Tampa Bay Lightning could be relatively quiet ahead of this year’s trade deadline. Elliotte Friedman of CBC.ca proposes the General Manager may wait until spring/summer to make key acquisitions: “Steve Yzerman is ‘pulling back’ in his hunt for goaltenders and defencemen. ‘He’s made it clear that he’d rather wait than rush through a trade,’ said another [...]

Update:  Michael Russo of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune claims he knows “for a fact” Minnesota Wild General Manager Chuck Fletcher is trying to cobble together a deal “quickly” and wonders if today could be the day. Following the latest 4-1 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs, the squad continues to tumble down the standings and further out of the playoff picture [...]