Dater’s Daily: Jack Johnson Gets Day With Cup, Kadri Non-Update

A good Monday to all. 102 degrees here in Denver today. No, I don’t have anything new on Nazem Kadri. I remain an optimist he’ll be back, but right now there is a pretty impressive cone of silence over the whole thing by all parties. Let’s do some other news, links and observations, starting with the day with the Stanley Cup Jack Johnson just had:

• JJ had his day with the Cup on Saturday, where he lives in Columbus, Ohio. I still think he’ll be back with the Avalanche, but it probably hinges on the Kadri/cap situation. The Avalanche are down to about $3.1 million in available cap space.
• JJ’s kids ate ice cream out of the Cup.
• According to PuckPedia, the Avalanche have 22 of a max 23 players with contracts on the active roster. Who might that preferred last player be?
• The Boston Bruins would like to get David Pastrnak’s name on a new contract. But negotiations are not going well, apparently. An NHL source tells our boys in Boston, “This is going to drag on.” Boston Bruins coverage.
• The Capitals may need to shed some centers this season. Lars Eller could be the odd man out. Capitals trade talk.
• Stefen Rosner, who covers the Islanders in the Hockey Now network, analyzes the chances of Sam Girard coming to them in trade (NYI Hockey Now)
• What four teams improved the most this offseason? The Hockey News has a list (Hockey News)
• I finally saw “Sunset Boulevard” the other day. It was made in 1950, won a bunch of Oscars. Wow, was it good. What took me so long?
• What’s going on in Calgary with Matthew Tkachuk? Steve MacFarlane has some answers (Calgary Hockey Now)