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Defenceman Dylan DeMelo, a UFA, shed no light whatsoever on where his talks are at but it’s believed he’s one of the players the club has approached along with centre Jean-Gabriel Pageau, defenceman Mark Borowiecki and possibly veteran Ron Hainsey.

Asked if he’s gotten any indication either way of what the organization wants to do, DeMelo deftly skated around the question.

“I probably won’t say anything to you guys about that,” DeMelo said. “I’m going to keep that closed and I think that’s the way it should be approached. I guess we’ll all find out before or after the trade what will happen.”

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Okay, thanks.

Still, there are 10 UFA’s in the room and that could be a distraction as the clock ticks towards the all important deadline with the contenders trying to bulk up by adding pieces.

“It’s in the back of your mind for sure,” DeMelo said. “We’re all human beings at the end of the day and you kind of just want to either get something done or you want to know where you stand. It’s in the back of your mind but you’ve got to be professional and focus on what you can control and worry about day-to-day practice and games.

“You’ve got to try to help this team win and that’s my mindset.”

DeMelo said they do discuss each other’s situations.

“It comes up a little bit. I don’t think we dive too much into each other’s agendas,” DeMelo said. “You have to keep to yourself and let things play out. You don’t want to really make it bigger than it has to be. Everybody’s at different places. It’s a lot of guys for sure. Everybody is treated very well in here and it hasn’t been a distraction at all.”