As speculation is rampant that reality is near that Steven Stamkos may hit the open market on July 1, If there’s a General Manager or two out there that knows what not to do when making a sales pitch to Steven Stamkos Monday, it’s Kyle Dubas of the Penguins and Lou Lamoriello of the Islanders, as both saw first-hand what not to do when pursuing Stamkos to join the Leafs in 2016. Toronto’s sales pitched spooked Stamkos so bad he wasn’t even out of the building before calling his agents at Newport Sports to call off any other meetings and get a deal done with Tampa Bay. Former Lightning GM Steve Yzerman thought Stamkos was good as gone when the Future Hall-of-Famer was going into that meeting with the Leafs.

There is great mystery surrounding Stamkos because if he does entertain offers from other teams, he’s one of the top few top pending UFA’s that doesn’t have a deal pretty much line up like so many do already. The belief is Stamkos and his reps at Newport Sports will be open to a number of scenarios. There will be multiple contenders scrambling to try to get creative.

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Early Friday Morning the speculation surrounding Jake Guentzel is the star winger has been particularly focused on three teams:

Carolina Hurricanes, Vancouver Canucks and To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

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Last week there were quite a few rumblings rival teams believed Pittsburgh was at the forefront to sign Jake DeBrusk on a 5 year deal come July 1 To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

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Strictly looking at roster for next season, a number of evaluators have given praise to the Washington Capitals buy-low moves of Pierre Luc Dubois and winger Andrew Mangiapane. Sounds like Capitals are also in the market to add an impact defenseman.

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PENGUNS BUZZ

— As a number of pending UFA forwards are not likely to get to July 1, Defensemen are going to get paid this off-season and in a big way. Some of the deals are expected to be staggering. Marcus Pettersson’s agent To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

— Count Seattle, Columbus to the list of teams that have engaged the Penguins To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

–Pittsburgh asking for Tristan Jarry’s updated No Trade List last week has fueled speculation league-wide To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

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