On the Chicago Blackhawks Marian Hossa…
Greg Wyshynski: It is apparent that the NHL does not know what to do with the Marian Hossa situation yet. That goes as far as cap situation for the Chicago Blackhawks next season. Chicago had informed the NHL about Hossa weeks ago. The situation is considerably fluid so stay tuned.
Chris Hine: Blackhkawks GM Stan Bowman isn’t sure how they will deal with Hossa’s absense and cap hit.
Mark Lazerus: GM Bowman on LTIRing Hossa: “It’s not as simple as people might think that we have the ability to simply replace Marian with another player.”
The latest with the Detroit Red Wings and Petr Mrazek…
Ansar Khan Of mlive.com reports that most expected Petr Mrazek to be the one to go in the expansion draft. However, it was prospect Tomas Nosek. Nosek had not shown much until this year’s AHL playoffs. He had ten goals and 22 points in 19 games for the Grand Rapid Griffins. That Calder Cup run drew the eyes of Las Vegas and hence his selection. Detroit did not shed much salary and Mrazek remains on the market. How much can they get for the goalie is an excellent question?
More on the St. Louis Blues trying to move up in the NHL Draft…
Chris Pinkert for NHL.com: It is clear that GM Doug Armstrong could be using pieces to move up in the NHL Draft.
“We’re excited about picks No. 20, 27 and 51,” Armstrong said. “We think we’re going to get really good players there, but if there’s a way to move up and get a player that we deem of real value, (we might).”
“(This draft) doesn’t have the (Sidney) Crosby, (Alex) Ovechkin or (Auston) Matthews-type players at the top end, but we’re still excited,” Armstrong said. “It doesn’t look like it has the depth of Robby Fabbri‘s draft where you might get a guy to fit in your Top 6. But that being said, someone is going to outperform the draft, they always do.”
On the latest from the Minnesota Wild…
Michael Russo notes that Erik Haula had zero chance of returning with Minnesota given their cap situation. This would allow Nino Niederreiter and Mikael Granlund to easily fit in Minnesota’s budget. It was also apparent that Erik Staal was not going to Las Vegas as there was a side deal in place. Finally, the possible defensemen trade is still very much in the air. Basically, it comes down to free agent flexibility.
