The Arizona Coyotes and Tobias Rieder have yet to find common ground in contract negotiations.

Rieder's agent, Darren Ferris, said contract negotiations are ongoing, but the two sides aren't close to reaching an agreement, according to Sarah McLellan of azcentral.

The 23-year-old restricted free agent appeared in all 82 games for the Coyotes in 2015-16, recording 14 goals and 23 assists with even possession numbers in five-on-five play.

Rieder carried a cap hit of $925,000 last season, while the Coyotes have almost $18 million in available space heading into next season.

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Mike Richards is preparing for another season in the NHL.

The 31-year-old forward, who appeared in 39 regular-season games and 12 playoff contests with the Washington Capitals in 2015-16, is hoping to draw interest from suitors now that the first waves of free-agent signings have died down.

"Not much right now just training, trying to get ready for the season. Not sure where it's going to be yet, but hopefully get some traction in the next couple of weeks," the unrestricted free agent told Ryan Young of Kenora Online.

"I plan to play hockey next year. So, it will just be what is the best fit for me."

Richards scored two goals and added three assists in those 39 games for Washington, but was held without a point in the postseason. His plan for 2016-17 is to get things rolling as soon as training camp begins.

"It was a little bit of an up-and-down season," he said. "I probably expected it to go a little more offensively, but it's not easy to just jump in midseason. Live and learn and hopefully I can get a full season under my belt this year."

Richards likely won't return Washington, with winger Brett Connolly having already scooped his jersey No. 10 after signing with the Capitals.

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The Columbus Blue Jackets won't be bringing in reinforcements.

Following another down season that began with an 0-8-0 stretch in October, the Blue Jackets are counting on the roster pieces already in place - as well as some promising prospects - to help right the ship in 2016-17, due mainly to a lack of salary-cap space.

"Our improvement is going to come from within," general manager Jarmo Kekalainen told Aaron Portzline of the Columbus Post-Dispatch. "It has to come from within.

"We have several guys, veteran guys, who have a lot to prove after the season they had last year, and I think they're going to be better. We have a group of young guys who are going to push them to be better."

Chief among those who need to be better are captain Nick Foligno and goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky; the former experienced a 19-goal drop-off from the previous campaign, while the latter was oft-injured and unable to find his Vezina Trophy form.

"I, 100 percent, appreciate (management) having trust in us," Foligno said. "They know we can get the job done.

"We should be humbled by the fact that they're going to give us another shot, and now we're going to run with it. This core group ... it's on us to push us to that next level."

The Blue Jackets also hope young players like Oliver Bjorkstrand, Zach Werenski, and Sonny Milano can parlay a Calder Cup championship at the AHL level into success with the big club as early as the upcoming NHL season.

According to General Fanager, Columbus holds less than $5 million in available cap space, and despite calls for improvement from players on the roster, Kekalainen will no doubt remain open to potential trades that would allow him to dump some of the more burdensome salary commitments.

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The decision to trade P.K. Subban was not an easy one for Marc Bergevin.

In an interview with Dave Stubbs of NHL.com, the Montreal Canadiens general manager maintains the trading of the fan favorite and Norris Trophy-winning defenseman to the Nashville Predators in exchange for Shea Weber was purely a hockey move designed to improve his club.

Believing he accomplished just that, Bergevin told Stubbs it's time to move on:

There was a lot of thought going into this (trade) prior to that day, a lot of discussion internally. I had talked to my hockey people. At the end of the day, I make the decision. It's on my shoulders, and I get that. But once I make that decision, I don't look back anymore.

It's like the old expression, 'If you're looking in the rearview mirror, you don't see what's ahead of you.' There was a well-thought process of how and why. As a group we talked, and then I made the final decision, and after that, I move on. If you're asking me 'since that day …' well, I have moved on, yes.

Bergevin also did his best to quell rumblings that Subban's personality didn't mesh with the coaching staff and front office.

"I always say, 'You don't want 23 robots.' I have no issues with personality. Everybody's different, everybody brings different things to the table. But at some point I had to make a hard decision where I thought I could make the team better. That's when we pulled the trigger," Bergevin said.

"And those who insist the trade was made to please (coach) Michel Therrien? That's (nonsense). Mike didn't know anything - anything - about the trade until after it was made."

He added he was given the blessing of team owner Geoff Molson to do what he thought was necessary to improve the team, with full confidence that any move is assessed from all angles prior to being made official.

Bergevin also confirmed Weber will wear the alternate captain's 'A' on his jersey next season.

Whether the Canadiens' faithful can move on as quickly as the GM remains to be seen.

The full interview can be read here.

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A local Buffalo-area car dealership is doing its best to try and convince Jimmy Vesey to call the city home.

Northtown Automotive has taken out a billboard that reads "Buffalo Loves Vesey," with the hope that the pending unrestricted free agent will sign with the Sabres.

The Sabres acquired the rights to the 23-year-old from the Nashville Predators in late June. However, Vesey has stated that he plans to hit the open market in August when he becomes a free agent.

That considered, Vesey's agent admitted on Friday that the left winger felt "very comfortable" with the Sabres following a meeting with the team on Thursday.

- With h/t to Bardown

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Stanley Cup champion Phil Kessel did indeed go under the knife to repair an injury that affected him for much longer than first reported.

The Pittsburgh Penguins winger recently underwent surgery on an unspecified hand, general manager Jim Rutherford confirmed Saturday. It's believed Kessel suffered the injury - also unspecified - during the 2015 preseason and not the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, as was initially reported.

"It was something he dealt with all season," Rutherford told Seth Rorabaugh of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "It bothered him. He took care of it. He's not expected to miss any time."

Despite the injury, Kessel was able to appear in all 82 regular-season games, as well as an additional 24 in the playoffs, where he played some of the best hockey of his career and finished second to Sidney Crosby in Conn Smythe voting.

Altogether, Kessel recorded 36 goals and 45 assists in 106 games in 2015-16.

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