I found myself watching Game 6 of the NBA Finals last night as, like usual, I struggle to adjust to the hockey-less world of the NHL offseason.

But there's lots of good stuff still coming on the NHL front over the next two weeks. We have the Board of Governors' meeting next Wednesday, where the Vegas expansion should get rubber-stamped, then the NHL Awards in Sin City that same night.

I will suggest that we exercise caution in our assumptions regarding expansion draft rules, based on this Tweet:

Dreger: On expansion draft rules, Bill Daly tells me 'there's so much misinformation out there, I can't even begin to start.' 690

— Chris Nichols (@NicholsOnHockey) June 16, 2016

Still, if expansion is OKed—and it certainly seems like it will be—I expect the teams will have a concrete set of expansion draft rules in their hands before the draft, so they can plan accordingly.

The other bit of info they'll need is the magical salary-cap number for 2016-17.

NHLPA will agree to exercise the escalator clause (5%) but wants to make sure everybody's on board before making it official.

— Renaud Lavoie (@renlavoietva) June 17, 2016

A lot of different numbers are being floated about what this means. I think it's important to remember that the players have used the escalator clause in all but one previous season, including last year.

Next year's NHL salary cap is expected to remain "relatively flat," per Bill Daly.

— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) May 30, 2016

If this statement from a couple of weeks ago is still true, my expectation is that next year's cap ceiling will be about the same as the $71.4 million figure that teams used in 2015-16. And given how aggressively teams like Florida and Chicago have already worked to shed salary, it certainly looks like they're not expecting to have much wiggle room.

No new buyouts on the books today. The Los Angeles Kings stripped Dustin Brown of his captaincy on Thursday, moving the C over to Anze Kopitar, but it doesn't sound like they'll move this summer to buy out Brown's contract, which carries a cap hit of $5.875 million for six more seasons. He's only two years in!

Lombardi said he will not buy out Dustin Brown. "I really believe he's going to get his game back."

— Eric Stephens (@icemancometh) June 16, 2016

After Wednesday's awards, it's straight on to Buffalo for Round 1 of the draft on Friday. I feel like we've been waiting for this day for so long—I'm super-excited to see what finally comes down.

The Canucks took care of another item on their to-do list on Thursday, inking winger Sven Baertschi to a new two-year deal.

Sven Baertschi's 2-year deal with #Canucks has a $200,000 signing bonus in 2016.https://t.co/VDki88feBm pic.twitter.com/5XvfoqkulX

— General Fanager (@generalfanager) June 16, 2016

Nice-looking deal for both sides. Baertschi more than doubles his salary from the $900,000 he made last season, and the Canucks lock up a player who scored 15 goals and was one of the few bright spots in the second half of the year.

For his part, Baertschi sounded happy when reached in Switzerland to talk about the deal.

Baertschi : "Good deal for me, feels great, it's been quite the road for me, to get rewarded like that, makes it more special. " #Canucks

— NEWS 1130 Sports (@NEWS1130Sports) June 17, 2016

Baertschi will be 25 when the deal expires, with six years of NHL service, so the Canucks will retain his rights as a restricted free agent.

With Baertschi and Markus Granlund already signed, the only other RFAs still to be signed by the Canucks are Linden Vey, Emerson Etem, Andrey Pedan, Alex Grenier and Mike Zalewski.

Finally today, the Glen Gulutzan appointment in Calgary became official. It's funny to think that a coach who was part of the Canucks organization when the infamous line brawl took place back in early 2014 will now be running the Flames bench.

Martin Gelinas is here. Expected to stay with #Flames organization. Jordan Sigalet remains as well as Goaltending coach.

— Roger Millions (@RogMillions) June 17, 2016

Other assistants will be added over the summer.

Of course, the move also creates a job opening in Vancouver—and apparently Travis Green has not changed his stance about possibly becoming an NHL assistant.

Van now in need of an assistant coach.It will NOT be Travis Green,who for now,will remain in Utica.Next step for him is an NHL head coach.

— John Shannon (@JSportsnet) June 17, 2016

Whoever the Canucks hire to work the bench with Willie Desjardins and Doug Lidster, the group will face immediate pressure to deliver wins, with Green still waiting in the wings.

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