Monday Catch Up & Lunch Links 6/23

Brian Gibbons is an unrestricted free agent.

With the 2014 NHL Draft less than a week away (Friday-Saturday, June 27-28th) and the start of free agency the following Tuesday, business is sure to pick up.

To stay tuned to the latest player movement surrounding the AHL Penguins free agents, follow our Twitter feed - @H_P_Hockey or the top left hand column of the website.

• Dates to Remember

Friday, June 27th - Saturday, 28th: 2014 NHL Entry Draft in Philadelphia.

Monday, June 30th: Deadline to submit qualifying offers to restricted free-agents (RFA).

Tuesday, July 1st: The 2014 Free Agency period begins. All unrestricted free agents are free to sign with other teams.

For starters, the Pittsburgh Penguins are still zeroing in on a new head coach. With all the recent coaching hires around the league, who is left on the Penguins' radar?

• The Florida Panthers hired Gerard Gallant to be their head coach. The Vancouver Canucks hired Willie Desjardins - the recent Calder Cup winning head coach from the AHL's Texas Stars - to be the Canucks' bench boss. The Carolina Hurricanes got former Detroit Red Wings assistant Bill Peters to take on the head coaching position in Raleigh. 

• That leaves the likes of Ulf Samuelsson, Rick Tocchet and John Hynes, among others, still in contention for the Penguins head coaching vacancy.

Lunch Links

• I'm working on a list of all the AHL players league-wide who are up for a new contract for next season to put in my third and final part of the Pens free agents series. If you missed either of the first two parts:

• Penguins In-House Free Agents 2014: Part One - Forwards

• Penguins In-House Free Agents 2014: Part Two - Goalies/Defense

• It was reported last week by Pens' beat writer Dave Molinari that the Penguins plan to submit qualifying offers to all five of their restricted free agents (RFA). Here's a look at those RFA's.