NHL teams seeking a center are in luck Womens Craig Smith Jersey , especially the ones that can get an audience with John Tavares.It’s no secret that Tavares is where free agency begins. He and his representatives have already met with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Boston Bruins and San Jose Sharks and are set to speak with the Dallas Stars and Tampa Bay Lightning on Wednesday to court the 27-year-old superstar.”We’ve had a discussion on that front,” Bruins general manager Don Sweeney said Saturday at the NHL draft . ”I think that’s still a bit to be determined.”As the No. 1 pending free agent, Tavares not only gets to hand out his rose like hockey’s version of ”The Bachelor,” he can set the tone for the rest of the players available.Only the Islanders can offer an eight-year contract – unless they execute a sign-and-trade to recoup some value – and he could very well become the league’s second-highest-paid player behind Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid, who makes an average of $12.5 million a season.”I think that (at)91Tavares should join the Sharks!” San Jose captain Joe Pavelski’s grandmother Mary Ann tweeted .As soon as Tavares decides to stay with the Islanders or sign elsewhere, the movement will begin.Paul Stastny should be the next-best center available after putting up 15 points in 17 playoff games with Winnipeg. Another 32-year-old, Toronto’s Tyler Bozak, could be a fallback plan for teams that don’t sign Tavares, and Buffalo will continue to get calls about two-way star Ryan O’Reilly as the push from contenders to add talent heats up.The Sharks are right in the middle of a lot of those conversations. Owner Hasso Plattner, GM Doug Wilson and coach Peter DeBoer made their pitch to Tavares at Creative Artists Agency’s Los Angeles office Tuesday.”We explore everything, every opportunity,” Wilson said Saturday after Ilya Kovalchuk chose to sign with Los Angeles. ”It’s a good thing that I think players look at our place as a place they want to consider to play.”The Lightning, who re-signed J.T. Miller to a $26.25 million, five-year deal, provide an attractive destination for Tavares and others after reaching the Eastern Conference final with a young core, but Tampa Bay’s salary cap space is tight.”We would have to make room,” GM Steve Yzerman said. ”We would have to make room if we brought in a significant salary.”Dallas could soon agree with center Tyler Seguin on a long-term contract Filip Forsberg Jersey , but has much more free cap space than Tampa Bay to use this summer. Expect GM Jim Nill to be active.”We’ll be getting a lot of calls from players,” Nill said. ”It’s exciting just to see what’s out there.”Tavares’ hometown Maple Leafs are the most intriguing destination because they’re a playoff team with a Stanley Cup-winning coach in Mike Babcock and young talent everywhere, from forwards Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and William Nylander to defenseman Morgan Rielly. They also have almost $25 million in salary-cap space, and GM Kyle Dubas hopes Toronto can add a substantial player in free agency.”We’ll try to figure that out if the opportunity presents itself,” Dubas said. ”We’re confident right now with our cap situation that we can do really whatever we want to do at this point. Nothing is going to stop us or hold us back and that’s how we’ll proceed here through the entire summer.”Here are some things to watch in free agency beyond Tavares:WINGING IT WITH JVROnly two unrestricted free agents scored 30 goals this past season: Tavares and Maple Leafs left wing James van Riemsdyk, who had 36 a year after recording a career-high 62 points in 2016-17. Teams don’t ordinarily let a 6-foot-3, 217-pounder such as van Riemsdyk get to July 1, but the Maple Leafs are in on Tavares, will need to give Nylander a raise as a restricted free agent and can talk extensions for Matthews and Marner this summer.With that in mind, van Riemsdyk could easily get a maximum-length, seven-year deal in free agency – perhaps from the New York Rangers he grew up rooting for, or the nearby Islanders or Devils. New Jersey trade acquisition Patrick Maroon and veteran Rick Nash also fit the bill for teams looking for big forwards who can fill the net.”We’ve had great communication with Rick and his representatives,” Sweeney said of Nash, whom the Bruins traded for in February. ”The time is in his court and stage to initiate whatever talks he wants wherever he wants to go. I think he strongly indicated that Boston is a place that he would consider and as would we.”FLAWED GOALTENDERSThe crop of available puck-stoppers has a shortage of sure-thing starters. Veterans Jaroslav Halak, Kari Lehtonen and Cam Ward have done it before, but may be at the stage of their careers that they’ll have to split time.Late-blooming 32-year-old Carter Hutton hasn’t been a No. 1 in the NHL, but looks to have that potential after his .931 save percentage last season was the best among goalies who appeared in at least 20 games.Teams could also take a shot on goalies who were not tendered contract offers as restricted free agents and are now to open to sign anywhere: Robin Lehner and Petr Mrazek.DEPTH DEFENSEMENAfter John Carlson Juuse Saros Jersey , who re-signed with the Stanley Cup champion Washington Capitals at $64 million over eight years, there’s a significant drop-off to rest of the available defensemen and not many out there who are particularly productive offensively.Former Capitals teammate Mike Green showed in Detroit he could still run a power-play unit at 32 and can be valuable on the right side, 29-year-old Ian Cole is a shutdown defender and 31-year-old Jack Johnson could benefit from a change of scenery after parts of seven seasons in Columbus.— CALGARY, Alberta (AP) The Columbus Blue Jackets stayed hot thanks to a big night from rookie centre Pierre-Luc Dubois.Dubois had his first career hat trick and the Blue Jackets beat the Calgary Flames 5-1 on Thursday night.”We have a lot of experience in this room and I’m lucky enough to play with guys like (Artemi Panarin) and Cam (Atkinson), who are two amazing players,” Dubois said. ”I want to keep winning and keep improving. It’s a great environment to learn in.”Columbus earned its sixth straight road victory and 12th win in its past 13 games, and moved past the Philadelphia Flyers and into third place in the Metropolitan Division. The Blue Jackets are one point back of the second place Pittsburgh Penguins.”We can’t control what the other teams do but if we keep winning, I think we’ll put ourselves in a pretty good spot,” Dubois added.Markus Hannikainen and Markus Nutivaara also scored for Columbus. Dubois’ linemates Artemi Panerin and Cam Atkinson each had two assists.Chris Stewart scored for Calgary, ruining Sergei Bobrovky’s shutout bid with 22 seconds left in the game.The Flames have lost seven straight games, being outscored 33-8 over that span.”We’re feeling sorry for ourselves a little bit too much,” Flames veteran Matt Stajan said. ”These games are hard to play, but we’re in the NHL, we have to go after it a little bit better. We’re making way too many mistakes – turning pucks over, odd-man rushes – things that you lose hockey games because of.”Columbus coach John Tortorella won his 128th game, moving him past Todd Richards into first on the club’s all-time list.Because of an injury to Marcus Foligno (lower body), Dubois was re-united with Panarin and Atkinson on the top line in Edmonton on Tuesday and so far, so good. Dubois’ first multi-goal game came after the trio combined for two goals against the Oilers.Making it 2-0 at 12:23 of the first period Kyle Turris Jersey , Dubois’ first of the game came on a one-timer past rookie Jon Gillies after being set up neatly by Panarin.Dubois’ second, making it 3-0 at 3:55 of the second, came after a sensational end-to-end rush by Atkinson, who wove his way down the ice, eventually sliding a backhand pass into the slot that Dubois snapped just inside the post.He capped off his memorable night with a power-play goal at 15:23 of the third.Eighteen goals on the season is a team record for goals by a rookie, surpassing Rick Nash’s 17 in 2002-03. The 2016 fourth overall pick has 44 points on the season, three back of Zach Werenski’s record for points by a rookie, set last season.Calgary outshot the Blue Jackets 38-28, but as has been the theme lately for the injury-riddled club missing its three top goal scorers, the Flames struggled to get one past Bobrovsky.Among the stops for the NHL’s reigning Vezina Trophy winner was a sprawling stop of Micheal Ferland in the first period. Early in the second, Bobrovsky stabbed his glove to snare a dangerous shot from 15 feet from Nick Shore.With Sean Monahan (wrist), Matthew Tkachuk (upper) and TJ Brodie (upper body) among the injured Flames, Calgary lost defenseman Travis Hamonic (upper body) after he was shaken up in a collision late in the first period.NOTES: The Flames have called up Spencer Foo from Stockton (AHL). He will make his NHL debut on Saturday against Edmonton. … Johnny Gaudreau (family matter) missed his second game, but he will rejoin the team on Friday. … Blue Jackets’ Brandon Dubinsky (illness) left the game in the second period.UP NEXT:Blue Jackets: Travel to Vancouver on Saturday.Flames: Host Edmonton on Saturday night.—
