Mats Zuccarello is apparently aiming to sign a long-term contract.

The pending unrestricted free agent is looking for a five-year pact, The Athletic's Aaron Portzline reported Thursday.

Zuccarello produced 11 points in 13 playoff games with the Dallas Stars this spring. He broke his arm blocking a shot in his Stars debut after being acquired from the New York Rangers before February's trade deadline, and ultimately posted a goal and two assists in two regular-season contests with his new club.

The crafty forward, who'll turn 32 in September, spent more than eight seasons with the Rangers, collecting 37 points in 46 contests in 2018-19 before the trade.

He's coming off the four-year, $18-million extension he inked with New York in March 2015.

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Artemi Panarin's free-agency tour reportedly included a meeting with the Broadway Blueshirts.

The coveted winger spent time with the New York Rangers on Wednesday, according to TSN's Darren Dreger.

Florida Panthers general manager Dale Tallon said on Sunday that he expected to meet with Panarin and his Columbus Blue Jackets teammate, Sergei Bobrovsky, at some point this week.

Panarin, arguably the NHL's top pending unrestricted free agent, has been able to speak with other clubs since the UFA negotiating window opened on Sunday. The free-agent signing period officially begins July 1 at noon EST.

Last summer, The Athletic's Aaron Portzline reported the Rangers were the 27-year-old winger's preferred destination.

New York holds about $17.5 million in cap space, with Jacob Trouba and Pavel Buchnevich among the team's players requiring new deals, according to CapFriendly.

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Welcome to Puck Pursuit, a weekly NHL podcast hosted by John Matisz, theScore's national hockey writer.

Subscribe to the show on iTunes, SoundCloud, Stitcher, Google Play, and Spotify.

In this episode, Travis Yost of TSN joins John to discuss a variety of free agency-related topics, including:

• Will someone sign an offer sheet?
• San Jose's salary cap crunch
• Matt Duchene's hot market
• Corey Perry's value in 2019
• Mats Zuccarello is a real wild card

... and more!

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Robin Lehner's days with the New York Islanders could be numbered.

The club and the goaltender are far enough apart in contract talks that a league source told The Athletic's Arthur Staple that Lehner will almost certainly play elsewhere next season.

After the unrestricted free-agent negotiating window opened Sunday, the pending UFA said he had no plans to talk to another team at that point. Last week, he said he loves the organization and wants to be back.

Lehner is coming off the one-year, $1.5-million pact he inked with New York last July.

The netminder, who'll turn 28 in July, was one of the best stories of the 2018-19 season. He won the Jennings Trophy along with teammate Thomas Greiss, was a finalist for the Vezina Trophy, and won the Masterton Trophy, awarded annually to the player who best exemplifies perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to hockey.

During training camp last fall, Lehner revealed his bipolar disorder diagnosis as well as his struggles with substance abuse.

He had a career season on the ice, posting a .930 save percentage in 46 appearances while helping the Islanders complete a turnaround that also earned head coach Barry Trotz the Jack Adams Award as the NHL's top head coach.

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The New Jersey Devils have gone a long way in adding significant star power to their roster early in the offseason, pulling off a blockbuster trade for blue-liner P.K. Subban and drafting American phenom Jack Hughes first overall.

New Jersey's moves have impressed star forward Taylor Hall, who can't wait to get going with his new teammates.

"As a player in the offseason, that's what you want to see," Hall said, per TSN. "It's exciting. We're going to have more than a couple new faces next year. Just injecting some new blood in the team is going to be really good."

Hall's 2018-19 season was tarnished by injuries - a disappointing follow-up to his Hart Trophy-winning campaign the year prior, when he carried the Devils to a playoff berth.

With Subban and Hughes now available to help carry the former MVP's load, Hall sees a turnaround for his team on the horizon.

"Whether he's playing on the power play or he's playing against the other team's top lines, he's going to be a guy that makes everyone else's jobs on the ice easier," Hall said of Subban.

"I'm really excited to play with him."

The developments come at an opportune moment for Hall, who is an unrestricted free agent next summer and intends to prioritize winning a Stanley Cup at this stage of his career.

Hall is eligible to sign an extension as of July 1 but said he and the Devils haven't begun talks yet.

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The Carolina Hurricanes will buy out the final year of Patrick Marleau's contract, general manager Don Waddell told Luke DeCock of the News & Observer on Thursday.

Carolina acquired the 39-year-old from the Toronto Maple Leafs via trade at the draft and owes Marleau his $3-million signing bonus plus $833,333 split over the next two years, DeCock adds.

The Leafs packaged Marleau along with a conditional first-round pick and a seventh-rounder in 2020 to offload his $6.25-million cap hit and received a sixth-round selection in return.

Marleau hasn't missed a game since the 2008-09 campaign and registered 16 goals and 21 assists for Toronto last season. It's widely expected that he's seeking a return to the San Jose Sharks, with whom he spent the first 19 years of his career.

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NHL free agency doesn't officially begin until July 1, but with the UFA and RFA negotiating periods now underway, the landscape is beginning to take shape.

Several big-name players have already been linked to potential new teams, and while some of those connections would be intriguing, the matches aren't necessarily the most entertaining scenarios.

Here are a handful of moves that would have us stockpiling popcorn in anticipation of next season:

Panarin to Avalanche

With the Florida Panthers clearly making a push to land both Artemi Panarin and his netminding teammate Sergei Bobrovsky (more on him below), that destination would make a lot of sense here, especially considering new head coach Joel Quenneville's history with the Russian sniper.

However, there's a much more exciting and competitive squad Panarin could join.

The Colorado Avalanche already boast arguably the NHL's best line with Gabriel Landeskog, Nathan MacKinnon, and Mikko Rantanen, but they could add another elite scorer in Panarin without needing to worry too much about the price tag.

The team holds more than $35 million to spend on free agents this offseason. Rantanen is due a chunk of that, and yes, goaltender Semyon Varlamov is another one of Colorado's 12 combined pending UFAs and RFAs. But the Avalanche can still fit Panarin's likely double-digit cap hit under the ceiling if he wants to sign with them.

Colorado is a playoff team with a dominant top line, a blue-line corps loaded with potential, and capable goaltending. Now the Avalanche need secondary scoring, and Panarin can address that as the best scorer available.

Bobrovsky to Hurricanes

The Panthers appear to be the common-sense destination for both Panarin and Bobrovsky. But how great would it be if the veteran goalie joined the "Bunch of Jerks?"

Carolina's goaltending situation is uncertain right now, as both Petr Mrazek and Curtis McElhinney are pending unrestricted free agents, and Scott Darling is likely getting bought out. McElhinney turned 36 years old last month, and Calder Cup-winning prospect Alex Nedeljkovic will likely get a shot at making the big club next season.

Hurricanes general manager Don Waddell says he's talking to Mrazek daily and is confident he'll sign a No. 1 goalie, whether it's the 27-year-old or someone else.

Someone else, you say? If you're Waddell, wouldn't you rather ink Bobrovsky, the two-time Vezina Trophy winner fresh off the best postseason of his career, over Mrazek, who was inconsistent in the 2019 playoffs and hasn't started more than 40 regular-season games since 2016-17?

Carolina needs to lock up Sebastian Aho, and the team would surely prefer to keep Justin Williams and Micheal Ferland in the fold, too. But the Hurricanes are in win-now mode with a projected $25 million to work with this summer. Go get Bobrovsky, Don.

Duchene to Canadiens

The Nashville Predators appear to be the front-runner for Matt Duchene's services. He's a fit there, especially after Predators general manager David Poile mentioned he wants to strengthen his forward corps with the cap space freed up following the P.K. Subban trade.

But isn't there another team in greater need of an upgrade down the middle after trying in vain to land a first-line center for years?

Ah yes, the Montreal Canadiens, a squad with Phillip Danault, Max Domi, and Jesperi Kotkaniemi at the position, but the Habs could go from the cusp of the postseason to a solid playoff team with Duchene on the roster.

The Canadiens need to take care of several free agents with only about $9 million in projected cap space, including Artturi Lehkonen. However, If Montreal can get Karl Alzner's contract off the books, that might clear enough room to pay Duchene what he's worth.

Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin has never been shy about making major moves, and this is one he should pursue.

Pavelski to Lightning

It's hard to imagine Joe Pavelski playing for any team but the San Jose Sharks. He's spent his entire 13-year career in San Jose, including the last four as captain.

However, Pavelski suiting up for the high-octane Tampa Bay Lightning - a club he reportedly met with on Wednesday night - would be appointment viewing.

Sure, he'll turn 35 years old in July, and the Lightning don't have much wiggle room under the cap with Brayden Point in need of a new deal.

But remember, Tampa was swept in the first round of the playoffs in embarrassing fashion this past spring after a historic regular season.

Adding "Captain America" would give the Lightning a proven playoff performer, an unquestioned leader, and a forward who can still produce at a high level. Pavelski racked up 38 regular-season goals and four more in the postseason with the Sharks in 2018-19.

As nice as it would be for Pavelski to finish his career with the only organization he's ever known, watching the veteran bolster a Bolts team that already includes Point, Nikita Kucherov, Steven Stamkos, and Victor Hedman is a tantalizing proposition, and it could help the Lightning vanquish their playoff demons.

Marner signs an offer sheet

As unlikely as this may be, it needs to happen for a couple of reasons.

Firstly, a team issuing the Toronto Maple Leafs an offer sheet for star restricted free-agent forward Mitch Marner would throw an under-utilized wrench into NHL free agency, making the offseason infinitely more entertaining. More practically, playing the offer-sheet card here would put the Leafs in further cap hell, to the benefit of every other club.

So, beyond the obvious acrimony it would create between two rival front offices, signing Marner to an offer sheet is a move worth making for opposing teams with cap space and draft picks to burn.

The possibility of a player getting an offer sheet has loomed for years in the NHL. Now with so many RFAs out there, it's time to turn speculation into reality.

Plenty of teams have the flexibility and assets to give Marner an offer sheet. Even if the Leafs match, it would arguably be worthwhile for certain clubs, and what's wrong with a little gamesmanship between GMs?

(Cap figures courtesy: CapFriendly)

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