Ilya Kovalchuk signed a three-year contract with the Los Angeles Kings Saturday despite receiving significant interest from the Bruins. 

After missing out on acquiring the 35-year-old Russian winger, the Bruins may have set their eye on free agent center John Tavares. 

Tavares list just about finalized, it appears.

Leafs, Sharks, Stars are in, as mentioned a couple days ago. Believe the Bruins are in as well.

Canadiens and Vegas not on the list as of now.#Isles will get in there too, of course.

— Arthur Staple (@StapeAthletic) June 25, 2018

GM Don Sweeney not ruling out #NHLBruins being among bidders in John Tavares sweepstakes: “We’ve had a discussion on that front. I think that’s still a bit to be determined so I’m not going to comment on another player at this time, not able to.”

— Matt Kalman (@MattKalman) June 23, 2018

Tavares, 27, has played all nine seasons of his career with the New York Islanders, scoring 272 goals and tallying 349 assists. He scored a near career-high in goals last season with 37, and should be in line for a large pay-day once NHL free agency begins on July 1st. 

Sense I get is Bruins haven’t yet been told they’re one of the teams in the John Tavares sweepstakes, but they would very much like to be. They’d definitely like to take a shot at it

— Joe Haggerty (@HackswithHaggs) June 24, 2018

If the Bruins decide to commit big money to Tavares, they risk their salary cap flexibility if they decide to resign Charlie McAvoy and Ryan Donato. Nevertheless, Boston has shown a willingness to spend and upgrade their roster in order to make a Stanley Cup run next season. 

BRIGHTON, Mass  -- It’s been a bit of a slow go of it for Anders Bjork in Bruins training camp this fall while coming back from shoulder surgery, and that’s beginning to make an impact on the youngster’s chances of cracking the NHL roster at the start of the season.

It’s no fault of Bjork’s obviously as returning from shoulder surgery is no easy feat in a game where heavy contact to the shoulders is an everyday experience. But as the former Notre Dame standout hasn’t been fully cleared by the medical staff to play in games, he’s fallen behind peers like Danton Heinen and Ryan Donato in the battle for a couple of open top-9 winger spots among the forward group.

Bjork did take some contact in 3-on-3 drills at practice on Sunday at Warrior Ice Arena and is expected to have a doctor’s appointment this week where he could get clearance to play in games.

That’s a better place to be in than Patrice Bergeron, Ryan Fitzgerald, Sean Kuraly, Martin Bakos and Jakub Zboril all currently sitting out practice with injuries, but the odds are getting more likely his season will start in Providence.

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• What the Bruins opening night roster might look like

“He’s kind of been in the practices and held out here or there. If I’m not mistaken he’s got an appointment tomorrow that might clarify a little more of where the next step is for him,” said Bruce Cassidy, who did have Bjork skating in a pretty good spot on the right side with Jake DeBrusk and Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson at practice on Sunday. “Hopefully that leads to some games for him because it’s tough to make the team if you don’t play any exhibition games if you’re in his position. [Bergeron] is a different animal and [Torey Krug] too because they’ve both been here, but for Bjork he’s probably going to need to play some games. Hopefully he gets that opportunity.”

Bjork was keeping a pretty good approach to the slow, deliberate approach to this fall’s training camp, but undoubtedly knows he’s got a couple of big games at the end of this week to show what he can do before the roster gets cut down.

“I’m feeling good. I’m still technically not cleared for games at this point, which is a little bit frustrating to be honest with you,” said Bjork, who had four goals and 12 points in 30 games last season. “I think the doctors have experience with this and they’re smart, so I have trust in them and trust in the coaching staff as well. It’s good to get a little antsy to play, and that’s building up with me for sure. We’re in the thick of camp, so I’m excited to get things going.”

For a player like Bjork that’s still developing, it might not be the worst thing in the world to start at the AHL level and get plenty of playing time rather than be a 22-year-old playing a potentially sporadic role at the NHL level. 

Here are all the links from around the hockey world, and what I’m reading while my fantasy football team is horrendous right now after Yahoo! gave me an “A” for my work on draft day. Damn you, Yahoo!

*It’s really interesting to think about just how impactful the arrival of John Tavares is going to be with the Maple Leafs. Does his arrival automatically catapult Toronto past the Bruins in the Atlantic Division standings? Will his leadership and intangibles takes Toronto’s young guns to an even higher level? Will the Leafs still be held back by their question marks on defense? Those questions won’t be answered until the regular season, but needless to say the media folks in Toronto are a wee bit giddy about the whole thing.

*Speaking of Toronto media watching Tavares, Steve Simmons has done his share and it sounds like he’s sold on the massive impact the former Islanders star will have.

*Interesting piece about how nutrition is becoming the next horizon in pro sports, and specifically in the NHL, where teams will be looking for competitive advantages.

*Former Winnipeg Jets goalie Ondrej Pavelec is calling it a career after 11 seasons in the NHL where he was certainly a No. 1 goalie, but never quite the guy that was going to take his team over the top.

*Jason Spezza wants to actually accomplish something on the ice for the Dallas Stars this season, which would certainly be helpful for them after a rough season.

*For something completely different: I wouldn’t plan on Chevy Chase hosting Saturday Night Live again anytime soon.