Gary Bettman insists he isn't worried about the fate of the Ottawa Senators amid a pair of ongoing scandals involving the franchise.

"There's always going to be some issue somewhere that has to be dealt with," the NHL commissioner told reporters, including The Canadian Press' Joshua Clipperton, following a Board of Governors meeting ahead of the NHL Awards in Las Vegas on Wednesday.

"The headstone has been written over the years for many franchises under a variety of circumstances and none of the burials ever took place. It's a moment in time," Bettman added.

The commissioner has been forced to intervene with other franchises over the years, but he doesn't see the need to do that yet in Ottawa.

"We don't think the club is anywhere close to cardiac arrest ... there's no issue up there," Bettman said. "I think it's more sensationalized than anything else."

Last week, Melinda Karlsson, the wife of Senators defenseman Erik Karlsson, applied for a peace bond against Monika Caryk, the fiancee of then-Senators forward Mike Hoffman, alleging a harassment campaign that came to a head after the Karlssons' son, Axel, was stillborn in March.

Hoffman was traded to the San Jose Sharks and then subsequently to the Florida Panthers on Tuesday.

Senators assistant general manager Randy Lee was arrested and charged with harassment following an alleged incident involving a hotel shuttle driver in Buffalo ahead of the NHL scouting combine. Lee was initially allowed to remain in his executive role but was then suspended by the club until the resolution of his case.

He's due back in court on July 6, meaning he'll miss the NHL draft this weekend in Dallas.

There have also been rumblings that the club might some day be put up for sale, a notion that Bettman attempted to squash before Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final last month when he insisted Senators owner Eugene Melnyk is committed to the franchise.

Copyright © 2018 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

The Detroit Red Wings don't like the price tag on Martin Frk.

Detroit will not extend a qualifying offer to the 24-year-old restricted free agent, reports Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press, meaning Frk will be able to sign with any team of his choosing.

An offer would have seen the Czech forward earn a 10 percent raise on his current salary, bringing his cap hit to $715,000 next season, per CapFriendly.

While the possibility remains that the Red Wings could sign Frk as an unrestricted free agent at a salary lower than his qualifying offer, the level of interest remains to be seen. The deadline for qualifying offers is Monday.

The Red Wings selected Frk in the second round of the 2012 draft. He played four seasons in the minors before landing a full-time role with Detroit this season, in which he tallied 11 goals and 14 assists in 68 games.

This marks the second time Frk has left Detroit. In October 2016, the Red Wings attempted to demote him to the AHL, but he was claimed off waivers by the Carolina Hurricanes. However, Frk returned to the Red Wings the following month when the team reclaimed him.

Copyright © 2018 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

One day after a report indicated Phil Kessel isn't opposed to accepting a trade to the Arizona Coyotes, general manager John Chayka made sure to set the details straight.

The initial report stated the Coyotes informed the Penguins a potential trade won't work because of Kessel's $6.8-million salary ($1.2 million is still paid by the Maple Leafs), but Chayka addressed the rumor Wednesday and said that's flat-out not true.

"I think it's terrible reporting," Chayka told Matt Layman of Arizona Sports. "It's inaccurate across the board from start to finish. I don't know where some things come up. I'm the one having trade discussions, those discussions with the Penguins haven't occurred. Unless someone else is making calls that I don't know about, I'm not sure where this information's coming from."

The Coyotes recently traded for Alex Galchenyuk, and have a verbal agreement on a contract extension worth $8 million per season in place with franchise blue-liner Oliver Ekman-Larsson. Taking those transactions into account, Arizona would still have over $10 million in available space, per CapFriendly.

"To speculate on our economics I think is unfair," Chayka said. "I think we're trying to build out our group here. We've got a young group and we're trying to build through the draft and develop. Again, I'm not sure where it's coming from, but the basis of that reporting's not coming from anything tied to the Coyotes and it's certainly not anywhere close to factual. "

Kessel's apparent availability comes weeks after a report revealed he and head coach Mike Sullivan butted heads over his deployment throughout the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Copyright © 2018 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

The NHL salary cap will be between $79.5 and $80 million next season, though nothing is firm yet, commissioner Gary Bettman told reporters Wednesday, per Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman.

The number still needs to be finalized with the NHLPA before it can be made official, Sportsnet's Chris Johnston reports.

If the cap winds up being on the larger end of that spectrum, it would mark a $5-million increase from last season's $75-million salary cap.

Copyright © 2018 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

The Toronto Maple Leafs signed both defenseman Connor Carrick and goaltender Calvin Pickard to one-year contract extensions, the team announced Wednesday.

Carrick, 24, will make $1.3 million, while Pickard, 26, will earn $800,000 at the NHL level.

The defenseman - who was a pending restricted free agent - recorded 12 points in 47 games in a third-pairing role for the Leafs this past season. He ranked third among regular Toronto skaters in Corsi For rating (52.5 percent), according to NaturalStatTrick.com.

Pickard, meanwhile, suited up for only a single NHL game in 2017-18. The ex-Colorado Avalanche backup - another former pending RFA - spent the bulk of the season with the AHL Marlies, where he posted a .918 save percentage in 33 games.

Carrick, a 2012 fifth-round pick of the Washington Capitals who has played two full seasons with the Leafs since coming over via trade, nearly doubles his previous salary. He earned $750,000 per year over the last two seasons.

He called it an "awesome day."

Copyright © 2018 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

In his first offseason as general manager of the Carolina Hurricanes, Don Waddell could be quite busy.

Waddell confirmed that Jeff Skinner's name on the trade market is not a fabrication.

"It's no secret that we put his name out there and we've gotten a lot of interest," Waddell said Wednesday on Hockey Central at noon.

Earlier this month, it was reported that the Hurricanes were looking for a first-round pick and a prospect in exchange for Skinner.

"He's a big asset for us," Waddell said. "So we gotta make sure we get some kind of asset that we feel is gonna help us either today or in the future for a guy like Jeff."

Another name that has surfaced in the rumor mill is Hurricanes defenseman Noah Hanifin. Waddell said one team called him about Hanifin, but they haven't really thought about making a deal. Instead, the Canes are geared toward making the blue-liner a part of their future.

"Our goal is to get (Hanifin) signed to a long-term deal," Waddell explained.

Skinner is a year away from unrestricted free agency, so moving him would make sense, even though he's a rather consistent goal scorer and an underrated two-way player. He's one year removed from a 37-goal season, and finished second in the NHL with 93 takeaways this past season.

Hanifin, however, is only 21 years old and has shown gradual improvements each season. Trading the former fifth overall pick would seem foolish at this point in his career, unless a substantial haul were to come back in return.

Copyright © 2018 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

Will the Ottawa Senators roll the dice?

According to Chris Johnston of Sportsnet, the embattled Canadian franchise plans on using its fourth overall pick during Friday’s NHL draft.

If the Senators do, in fact, pick a player with their first-round pick in Dallas, they will dramatically reduce their odds of drafting American prodigy Jack Hughes in 2019 thanks to a condition in the Matt Duchene trade.

Duchene was flipped to Ottawa last November as part of a three-way deal with the Colorado Avalanche and Nashville Predators. The trade included a conditional first-round pick, swapped from Ottawa to Colorado, which forces Senators GM Pierre Dorion to fork over either the club's 2018 first-rounder or its 2019 first-rounder.

Hughes, who is being hailed as the next great NHL superstar, destroyed the USHL this past season, recording 48 points in 24 games as a 17-year-old forward on the United States National Team Development Program. The consensus top prospect for next year's draft is the younger brother of 2018 blue-chipper Quinn Hughes.

On the flip side, there will be a number of quality prospects available to the Senators in the No. 4 spot. Assuming they remain seated through three picks, forwards Brady Tkachuk and Filip Zadina, as well as defencemen Evan Bouchard and Noah Dobson, are prime options.

Copyright © 2018 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

If the Buffalo Sabres decide to trade premier center Ryan O'Reilly, they have at at least three potential suitors.

The center-needy Montreal Canadiens, Carolina Hurricanes, and St. Louis Blues have all shown interest in O'Reilly, according to The Athletic's Pierre LeBrun. The Habs and Canes have both "had talks," while the Blues have "at least inquired" about O'Reilly's services, LeBrun notes.

O'Reilly is one of the best two-way centers in the game. He finished this past season with 24 goals and 61 points in 81 games, but was also one of three players in the NHL with at least 65 takeaways, but less than 40 giveaways. He also set an NHL record for faceoff wins in a single season, and is a nominee for the Lady Byng Trophy, as he collected just two penalty minutes all season.

O'Reilly has a cap hit of $7.5 million through 2022-23. However, he is due a $7.5-million bonus on July 1, LeBrun adds. His base salary is only $1 million through the remainder of his deal, but he is due a $5-million bonus for the last four years of his deal, per Cap Friendly.

A team with deep pockets, such as the the Canadiens, could look to make a push before July 1, because once that bonus is paid, Buffalo's asking price may go up. A team like the Hurricanes may want to wait until after July 1.

Marc Bergevin has been searching for a legitimate No. 1 center during his entire tenure as the Habs' GM. The Hurricanes haven't had a top-notch center since Eric Staal departed, while the Blues are likely looking to replace Paul Stastny, whom they dealt to the Winnipeg Jets at the trade deadline.

Both the Hurricanes and Blues have several blue-chip prospects they could offer. The same can't be said for the Canadiens, but they do have nine picks in the first four rounds of the NHL draft they could dangle as trade bait.

It's possible a fresh start could bring new life to O'Reilly's game, as he said after another losing season with the Sabres this year that he "lost the love of the game multiple times."

Since O'Reilly is under contract, the Sabres are fine keeping him if they don't get an offer to their liking, LeBrun says.

Copyright © 2018 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

The National Hockey League will kick off the 2018-19 campaign with a juicy matchup between the reigning Stanley Cup champion Washington Capitals and the Boston Bruins on Oct. 3.

The Capitals will be at home and indicated they will raise their Stanley Cup banner. Here are the rest of the home-opening dates by division:

Atlantic Division

Metropolitan Division

Pacific Division

Central Division

The full NHL schedule is set to be released Thursday afternoon.

Copyright © 2018 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.