An excerpt from the Ottawa Sun (Bruce Garrioch):

Gary Bettman has laid down the law.

League sources told Sun Media yesterday that they’ve “never seen it so quiet” before the NHL free-agency period begins because teams are worried they’ll be charged with tampering if they engage in anything that can be construed as contract discussions before Tuesday at noon.

While agents have always tried to get a handle on the unrestricted market before July 1, sources say Bettman told the GMs during a meeting at the Stanley Cup final in Detroit that if he caught somebody tampering, the team involved “would be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.”