Deen’s Daily: Avs Won’t Comment on Necas Contract Talks; Development Camp Roster; Leafs Lock up Knies

We’re two days away from free agency and things have slowed down somewhat on the trade market. Chris MacFarland met with media on Saturday to preview the chaos to come. Also, Toronto locked up a huge piece of their team for nearly the max term.

All that and more on this edition of Deen’s Daily — June 29.

Colorado Hockey Now

Jonathan Drouin is heading to unrestricted free agency. That was finally confirmed on Sunday by his agent.

Does it mean he’s for sure not coming back? Not quite. More than likely, Drouin will be playing else where next season, but the Avs aren’t entirely closing the door on a return. It would likely take another low-cost control from Drouin to make it work — something he’s accepted for each of the past two seasons.

General manager Chris MacFarland spoke about Drouin and several other things on Saturday at Ball Arena after the draft. I was sure to ask him about the Martin Necas contract negotiations, too. Necas is eligible for an extension on Tuesday and is already signed for next season.

You can read about that, and all the key points of MacFarland’s presser, below.

The Avs also released their development camp roster, which starts on Tuesday right before free agency.

Each of their three draft picks from yesterday will be present, albeit only two are skating. One of the notable absences from camp is goalie Ilya Nabokov and I was asked why he wasn’t coming.

I don’t have this confirmed, but it doesn’t make much sense for him to make the long trek from Russia and deal with jet lag for a development camp in a reason where he’s going to play in the KHL.

The Avs are still very high on him. That was reiterated on Saturday by MacFarland.

Around The NHL

Toronto Locks up Knies: Stick taps to the Toronto Maple Leafs for locking up a key piece of their future for a contract that, honestly, looks pretty team friendly. Coming off a 58-point season, Knies signed a six-year deal carrying a $7.75 million AAV.

Given where the cap is going, that deal is going to look really, really nice for the majority of the term. And given the loss of Mitch Marner, which elevates Knies’ role, there is a chance he’s already putting up 70+ points next year while playing with a physical game, and would be an instant bargain.

Ottawa Hockey Now: The Sens also made a notable signing, locking in veteran Claude Giroux for one more year. The veteran wanted to stay home and signed a bonus-laden contract to make it happen.

NYI Hockey Now: Alex Romanov is a defenseman that I wonder about for the Avs (before the Isles traded Dobson). But it looks like he might be close to signing an extension.

Detroit Hockey Now: The Wings are still confident that Patrick Kane is going to re-sign and stay in Hockeytown. I’d still love to see him play for the Leafs.

Vegas Hockey Now: The Leafs and Golden Knights are still discussing a Mitch Marner sign-and-trade. The teams have been discussing this star player for a year now, according to Elliotte Friedman.