The Chicago Blackhawks and pending unrestricted free agent Sam Gagner have expressed mutual interest in each other, reports Scott Powers of The Athletic.

Gagner, 27, joined the Columbus Blue Jackets last offseason on a one-year deal and produced a career season, bagging 18 goals and 32 assists while earning just $650,000.

The Blackhawks have already made numerous changes since a first-round sweep at the hands of the Nashville Predators in April. Chicago sent dynamic winger Artemi Panarin to Columbus for Brandon Saad, and also dealt reliable defender Niklas Hjalmarsson to Arizona. Not to mention, future Hall of Famer Marian Hossa has been ruled out for the entire 2017-18 season due to a skin condition.

As always, salary cap restrictions will be the biggest hurdle. Despite recent moves, Chicago is still a projected $2.9 million over the limit, per CapFriendly.

However, should a deal come to fruition, Gagner could fit nicely with the Blackhawks at a reasonable price. He'd help the club's weak depth down the middle and could feasibly replace a chunk of Panarin's production on the power play.

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Spencer Foo is off to Calgary.

The Union College forward has agreed to sign with the Flames, the team announced Tuesday. The deal will become official once free agency opens July 1.

Foo joins the Flames as an undrafted free agent. The highly touted 23-year-old spent the past four seasons with Union, and wrapped up the 2016-17 campaign with 26 goals and 36 assists in 38 games.

The move to Calgary is somewhat of homecoming for Foo, who hails from the same province in nearby Edmonton.

Foo's brother, Parker, was selected 144th overall by the Chicago Blackhawks in last week's entry draft.

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The Columbus Blue Jackets have their eyes on a former NHL superstar, having spoken with Ilya Kovalchuk's agent, Blue Jackets president of hockey operations John Davidson told Sportsnet's John Shannon on Tuesday.

Kovalchuk, 34, has spent the past four years in the KHL, notching 78 points in 68 games last season with St. Petersburg SKA.

The Russian sniper has expressed interest in returning to North America, but his path forward isn't so simple. Kovalchuk left the NHL in 2013, but in doing so walked away from a contract with the New Jersey Devils that was not set to expire until 2025.

While that agreement was eventually terminated, the NHL has since ruled that the Devils hold Kovalchuk's rights until he turns 35.

So, if Kovalchuk is to make an NHL comeback, he would need to sign with New Jersey first, who would ostensibly proceed to trade him elsewhere. Earlier this month, Devils general manager Ray Shero appeared open to facilitating the superstar's return.

Kovalchuk has played 816 games in the NHL with the Devils and Atlanta Thrashers, registering 417 goals and 399 assists.

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If Patrick Marleau chooses to play for a new team for the first time in his career this summer, he'll reportedly have plenty of options.

The San Jose Sharks winger - who's spent the entirety of his 19 NHL seasons with the club since being drafted second overall in 1997 - will be an unrestricted free agent as of July 1, and several teams are interested in his services, according to The Athletic's Craig Custance.

Custance listed the Toronto Maple Leafs, Anaheim Ducks, New York Rangers, Carolina Hurricanes, Nashville Predators, and Los Angeles Kings as teams in the mix for the 37-year-old.

Marleau's longtime teammate Joe Thornton is also a pending UFA, and while both franchise icons expressed their desire to remain in San Jose after their first-round elimination by the Edmonton Oilers, both are drawing increased attention in the free-agent market.

Marleau will be 38 by the time the 2017-18 campaign begins, but can surely provide scoring depth wherever he ends up. In 82 games last season, he recorded 27 goals and 19 assists, and highlighted his campaign by reaching the 500-goal plateau in February.

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For the first time since the 2009 offseason, the Arizona Coyotes have a head coaching vacancy, and it appears Todd Nelson will be the first one to get a crack at the job.

The Coyotes received permission from the Red Wings to interview Nelson, according to Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press.

Nelson is fresh off a Calder Cup victory with Detroit's AHL team, the Grand Rapids Griffins.

Related: 5 candidates to become next Coyotes coach

Prior to coaching the Griffins, Nelson was the bench boss of the Edmonton Oilers, compiling a record of 17-25-9 after taking over for Dallas Eakins 32 games into the 2014-15 season.

This was, of course, the pre-Connor McDavid Oilers, who didn't really have a chance to go anywhere, even if Scotty Bowman was behind the bench.

Nelson, a former defenseman, spent most of his playing days in the minors, totaling three NHL games played.

The sudden head coaching vacancy comes in the wake of the organization's decision to mutually agree to part ways with longtime head coach Dave Tippett.

The Coyotes and associate coach Jim Playfair have also mutually agreed to part ways, according to Sarah McLellan of the Arizona Republic, opening the door for the next head coach of the team to assemble his own staff.

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Joe Thornton must be a fan of the sunshine.

The San Jose Sharks forward is a pending unrestricted free agent and has had some talks with a fellow California-based club, the Los Angeles Kings, according to LAKingsInsider.com's Jon Rosen.

Thornton - who turns 38 on Sunday - has been with the Sharks since the 2005-06 season during which time he has amassed the third-most points in the league, trailing only Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby.

The veteran center is coming off a down year that saw him tally just seven goals and 50 points, which are both his lowest totals in a full 82-game season since his rookie and sophomore seasons, respectively.

Meanwhile, the Kings also appear to be a questionable fit for Thornton given they already have Anze Kopitar and Jeff Carter playing down the middle on the team's top two lines.

There is also the fact that the Kings are the Sharks' biggest rival, which would certainly leave some fans in San Jose a little sour.

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This season's free-agent class is conspicuously weak.

Kevin Shattenkirk tops the list, while Washington Capitals teammate Karl Alzner is reportedly getting a lot of sniffs from potential suitors. But after that, the most sought-after name might be Philadelphia Flyers forward Jordan Weal, who's reportedly fielded over a dozen calls.

The Canucks are apparently among those interested in the North Vancouver native, and he's expected to visit this week.

At first glance the hoopla surrounding Weal, 25, is a head-scratcher, considering he has a measly 37 games of NHL experience under his belt.

So why all the interest?

A third-round selection in 2010 by the Los Angeles Kings, Weal didn't get his first taste of NHL action until the 2015-16 campaign.

Weal landed with the Flyers in January 2016 as part of the Vincent Lecavalier trade, but he mostly watched as a healthy scratch as Philadelphia didn't want to risk putting him through waivers.

Weal played the majority of the 2016-17 season with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, where he posted an impressive 15 goals and 47 points in 43 games, serving as the only player on the team to average more than a point per game. He got a call-up in February, recording 12 points in 23 games with the big club.

His best statistical AHL season came in 2013-14, when he recorded 70 points for the Manchester Monarchs. The following year, he put up 69 points in the regular season and 22 in the playoffs en route to a Calder Cup title. Weal was awarded the Jack A. Butterfield Trophy as playoff MVP.

Though Weal has dressed in under 40 career NHL games, he has shown he can thrive when given an opportunity.

During his first crack at the NHL, Weal went pointless in 14 games split between the Kings and Flyers. However, Weal averaged just 9:13 of ice time per game, playing a high of 14:04 just twice, and as little as 6:42.

But he proved what a little patience can do in his 23 games with the Flyers this season. Weal played an average of 14:18 a night and finished hot, with four goals and seven points in the final seven games.

Here's what else he accomplished at 5-on-5:

• Led the Flyers with 2.29 points per game.
• Finished third on the Flyers with 7.92 shots per 60 minutes.
• Led the Flyers with 1.46 goals per 60 minutes.
• Led the Flyers in shooting percentage with a 18.42 percent rate.
• Led the team with a 55.96 percent Corsi-for rating.

Weal looks to be a budding star and it appears teams across the league have caught on. Flyers general manager Ron Hextall is reportedly doing his darnedest to re-sign him, too.

He might not have the experience, but Weal could be worth a gamble. And teams are lining up.

(Photos courtesy: Action Images)

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Pending unrestricted free-agent defenseman Andrei Markov is looking to play until he's at least 40 years of age.

The 38-year-old is looking for a two-year contract that will pay him $6 million per season, a source told Renaud Lavoie of TVA Sports.

If a team were to meet Markov's demands, he would actually be receiving a raise. His last contract, a three-year deal, had him making $5.75 million per season.

It's unclear whether a team would be willing to give a player his age a multi-year deal, but Markov can still play. In 62 games last season he tallied 36 points, a plus-18 rating, only 16 PIMs, a Corsi For percentage of 54, all while averaging 21:50 minutes of ice time per night.

In fact, his 0.58 points per game from last season is identical to his career mark, signaling the Russian blue-liner still has plenty of gas left in the tank.

Markov has spent his entire NHL career with the Montreal Canadiens, and is just 10 regular-season games shy of 1,000.

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Dallas Stars defenseman John Klingberg had to have been the happiest man on the planet when former Ottawa Senators defenseman Marc Methot was traded from Vegas to Dallas.

Methot's claim to fame to this point in his career has come from two things: being the guy who got his finger chopped off by Sidney Crosby, and being Erik Karlsson's longtime defensive partner.

The latter is the reason why Klingberg should have jumped out of his seat upon hearing the news Methot was heading to Texas.

Methot was the ideal defense partner for Karlsson. He is big, strong, physical, positionally sound, great at winning puck battles down low, is a left-handed shot (Karlsson shoots right), and has little offensive ability.

Though Karlsson is obviously in a league of his own, he and Klingberg are very much alike. Both are from Sweden, love to skate the puck out of the defensive zone, love joining the rush, can make a great first pass, are all-around dynamic offensively, and both shoot right - essentially the complete opposite of Methot.

Stars general manager Jim Nill had this to say about Methot, per Stephen Whyno of The Associated Press:

"(Methot) has proven to be a capable and steady defenseman that can play well with an offensive-minded partner."

(Photo courtesy: Action Images)

Assuming Klingberg and Methot are paired together, the latter's stay-at-home mindset will allow the former to roam freely and generate offense, knowing he has a veteran, rock-solid partner backing him.

This wasn't the case for Klingberg last season, as he was most frequently paired with rookie Esa Lindell. There were certainly times when Klingberg thought twice about pinching, knowing he would have left a rookie hung out to dry had he gotten caught.

Despite the responsibility of being paired with a rookie, Klingberg - who is only 24 years old in his own right - still recorded 49 points (10th-most among NHL defensemen) and scored a career-high 13 goals.

Methot will not only serve as a security blanket for Klingberg, but he will act as mentor. Including playoffs, Methot has over 600 games of NHL experience - many of them spent exclusively alongside Karlsson. Methot can tell Klingberg "in this situation, Karlsson used to do this" or "here's how Karlsson and I would approach this scenario."

It may seem subtle, but the little things matter a lot.

With a full season alongside Methot, Klingberg should be able to regain his 58-point form from 2015-16, or perhaps even surpass that total, into the 60- or even 70-point range. He certainly has the talent, and now he has the defense partner who will allow him to be as offensively aggressive as he wants, without thinking of the repercussions that will come with it.

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