(On talk between general managers)
"I've seen that quote. To me, it's been a normal amount of chatter. I think a lot of teams are checking and checking in on players and trying to figure out where the cap is going to be and what they have to do to be compliant with that. I think there's quite a few bigger-name RFAs out there that people are trying to work towards a contract with. So, I don't know if it's above normal. I think it's pretty normal from my point of view."
"We try to have as many conversations as we can to know what's going on with teams and what they're trying to do and trying to find a match with what we're trying to accomplish."
(On appearing to be in "win-now" mode)
"I don't know that we're never not in an all-in situation. We view ourselves as a contender for the Cup and we want to put the best team forward and make the best decisions we can to do that. We have some good players, some players that are getting a little bit older, but are still high-end quality players and we're looking to surround them with the best team possible."
"I think we're in the same mode we've been in for the last five years. Try to have the best team we can put on the ice together. I think Ovi and Backy are still high-end quality players and we're trying to surround them with the best guys we can every year."
(On Andre Burakovsky's contract status affecting contract negotiations with Nicklas Backstrom and Braden Holtby)
"I don't know if that has a huge impact on it. We have another year with both players. Obviously, they're both a big part of the team and a big part of what we've accomplished so far. As the summer goes on, we'll talk to both of those guys about the future and how we see it playing out. Do I think Andre Burakovsky plays into the decision for those two contracts? I don't think so."
(On Andre Burakovsky)
"Andre had a frustrating year this year, but I think he finished it up well. I think from the trade deadline on… I thought he had a good playoffs. We like the player. There's been some inconsistencies there, but when he's on his game he's a good player. We'd like to keep him around. Obviously, his name is out there a bit, so we do talk to some teams on him. We're not going to move him unless we get something we feel comfortable with back."
(On uncertainty of salary cap ceiling)
"It's frustrating. We've been projecting using that $83 million] number for the last part of the year. At some point we switched back to [$82.5 million] because there were some rumblings there and now it seems to be going back a little further. I know it seems like it's not a large amount of dollars, but it does impact teams that are right at the number, as far as salary. So, it is a bit frustrating. When you see it go down to maybe [$81.5 million
