“I’m sure that nobody wants that to happen,” Parise said. “No one wants it to drag out all the way to arbitration. I don’t think a player wants to go to arbitration. I don’t think an organization wants to take someone to arbitration at the end of the day. Maybe something like that happens, but of course we don’t want to.”

“He played very well for us,” Yzerman said. “We intend to offer him a contract. It all comes down to how much we can afford to pay for the position and how much the player is asking. We haven’t had those discussions yet. But at my end-of-the-year meeting, he indicated he enjoyed playing here in Tampa and is interested in exploring signing an extension with us.”

Yzerman has been playing “phone tag” with Steven Stamkos’s agent,

“We want (Stamkos) to be a Lightning player for a long time and our intention is to reach an agreement that works for all the parties involved.”

The Lightning will likely want to sign Dwayne Roloson, Mike Smith, Sean Bergenheim and Teddy Purcell. Simon Gagne could be down the contract priority list.

“There’s some really good up-and-comers, ready for prime time as a No. 1 slot,” said Maloney. “For the right young goaltender who’s 23, 24, 25, who we could keep for five or six years, there’s a price. You weigh that against the UFA market. There’s some experienced, very good goaltenders. I’m not losing sleep over this.”

The Minnesota Wild may not name their new coach until draft week, Craig MacTavish may be the leading candidate. The Coyotes have to re-sign Keith Yandle but may let Ed Jovanovski walk. Matheson thinks the Oilers should sign Zenon Konopka.