Rumor Central

OTT- Per Bruce Garrioch of SLAM! Sports, the Ottawa Senators' best interest is to sign starting goalie Ray Emery before July 1st, or his signing could be very costly, especially with arbitration.
He also suggests that some NHL GMs might be interested in offering Emery a contract, via a "group II offer":

Group II restricted free agents

Players who have been tendered a qualifying offer before June 30 by their respective clubs are subject to draft choice compensation and right to match by their previous club. If a qualifying offer is not provided by that date, the player becomes an unrestricted free agent. Another team may make an offer to a restricted free agent by signing the player to an offer sheet. Since the player is restricted, the original team has a right to match the offer. If the original teams opts not to match the offer, it receives draft choice compensation based on a sliding scale

VAN- According to the Province, Canucks GM Dave Nonis is in the market for offense this offseason, but he doesn't think the "group II offer" is a solution: "The only way an offer sheet works is if you overpay the player," Nonis said Sunday. "If you don't overpay, the team is always going to match and to me it's not the way I would approach it. The Canucks desperately need to spark their 23rd ranked offense, but the 40 million dollars on their salary cap, for 14 players, will prove to be a problem. The Canucks' best options in the UFA market are Petr Sykora, Bill Guerin and Dainius Zubrus.

Trevor Linden, the Canucks' captain since the early 1990s, is still without a contract for the 2007-08 season. According to the Vancouver Sun, he, and 'Nucks' GM Dave Nonis are set to discuss a contract for the 37-year old this week.

WAS- According to the Washington Post, the Washington Capitals made offers to 9 of their 17 restricted free agents, yesterday. Among those that were tendered offers, are defensemen Steve Eminger, Milan Jurcina, John Erskine, as well as forwards Brian Sutherby, Tomas Fleischmann, Jakup Klepis, Dave Steckel and Brooks Laich. Forwards Chris Beech and Jiri Novotni, acquired last trade deadline in the Danius Zubrus deal and minor leaguers Joey Tenute, Trevor Byrne, Maxime Daigneault, Matt Stafanishion, Jonas Johansson and Louis Robitaille did not receive offers.

Update 1:

BUF/NJ- TSN's Bob McKenzie reports that some teams may make "group II offers" to forwards Zach Parise of the New Jersey Devils and Tomas Vanek of the Buffalo Sabres, since both teams are in tough financial situations due to the salary cap.

FLA- The Hockey News reports that the Florida Panthers have not submitted a contract offer to restricted free-agent Alex Ault, which would make him an unrestricted free-agent. Instead of keeping Auld, they have re-signed goalie Craig Anderson to a 2-year contract.

PIT- The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Shelly Anderson reports that the Penguins have not qualified a contract offer to restricted free-agent Michel Ouellet, thus making him an unrestricted free-agent.