Here are all the links from around the hockey world, and what I’m reading while most fine, upstanding Canadians are headed to their cottages for the next month or so.
*The Tampa Bay Lightning continue to get some pretty reasonable deals with Steve Yzerman signing Tyler Johnson to a seven-year, $35 million contract that keeps his skill in Tampa for a long time to come.
*PHT writer James O’Brien has an update on Drew Stafford with the Bruins, which is that the B's must first take care of David Pastrnak before they make a ruling on a UFA like Stafford. That tells you that the B’s aren’t all that interested in bringing back Stafford even though they’ve kept in touch. The B’s really can’t do much of anything until they figure out how much it’s going to cost to ink Pastrnak to a long term deal. I also think the B’s aren’t going to offer Stafford much more than a PTO at this point given how much they hope to have some young players fill into that left wing spot, and given that the rest of the league hasn’t barged down his door.
*I love the move by the Florida Everblades to offer Jaromir Jagr an ECHL contract and a chance to stay in southern Florida even if his days are done with the Florida Panthers.
*The Winnipeg Jets still have some work to do to settle things contractually with their remaining restricted free agents, even after a deal for Chris Tanev.
*The Arizona Coyotes have hired Pittsburgh assistant Rick Tocchet as their next head coach and the Penguins have promoted old friend Mark Recchi to replace him on the bench.
*Getting to participate in the Olympics apparently played a big role in Ilya Kovalchuk heading back to the KHL for one more season, despite some flickering interest in returning to the NHL.
Boston Bruins
*For something completely different: Boy, it sure sounds like Alec Guinness had a little of the Obi-Wan thing happening in real life.