- Lyle Richardson (Spector’s Hockey) via twitter: A reliable source told him that the Chicago Blackhawks will keep Antti Niemi.
- Tim Sassone of the Daily Herald: Blackhawks GM Stan Bowman has until Monday to decide if they’ll be accepting Antti Niemi’s $2.75 million arbitration ruling. Since the ruling was under $3 million, it might give the ‘Hawks some wiggle room to keep him. To fit Niemi, they might have 9 players making less than $900,000. They might also keep 20-21 roster players instead of 23 to keep their cap number lower. There’s the chance they’ll walk away and turn to Marty Turco or Jose Theodore.
- Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun: Brian Burke thinks things will heat up for Tomas Kaberle once the Kovalchuk decision comes down next week, but Simmons doesn’t see the correlation (The correlation could be that whoever doesn’t get Kovalchuk, Devils or Kings, could be in the market for a puck moving defenseman like Kaberle).
Burke won a Stanley Cup with a dominant defence of Chris Pronger, Scott Niedermayer, Francois Beauchemin, Sean O’Donnell, Kent Huskins and Joe DiPenta. Bob Murray’s defence in Anaheim as of Saturday: Lubomir Visnovsky, Toni Lydman and Sheldon Brookbank. Can you say Anaheim needs Kaberle, and badly?
- Tim Panaccio of CSNPhilly: Marty Turco said back in June that he turned down a 3 year, $6 million deal, while the Flyers denied the offer. Yesterday Turco texted CSNPhilly saying, “We would have loved to go to the Flyers, but it’s not happening”. Rumors on Friday were that the Turco and Blackhawks have an agreement in place if the ‘Hawks walk away/trade Antti Niemi. It looks like the ‘Hawks could walk away from the $2.75 million ruling.
- Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun: Some talented veteran free agents are still available: Bill Guerin, Mike Comrie, Andy Sutton, Marty Turco and Miroslav Satan. Teams that still have some money to spend: NY Islanders, Colorado, Atlanta, St. Louis, Nashville, Dallas, Anaheim, Carolina and even Los Angeles. Younger players will be given a chance rather than paying a veteran.
“If you can get a young guy who can get the job done for $600,000, you’re going to give that guy a chance,” said the agent. “You’re not going to pay a veteran $1.5 million to do the same job with this salary cap.”
More names that are still available: Teemu Selanne, Mike Modano, Lee Stempniak, Paul Kariya, Miro Satan, Mike Comrie, Bill Guerin, Willie Mitchell, Andy Sutton, Marc-Andre Bergeron, Marty Turco, Jose Theodore, Ruslan Fedotenko, Brendan Morrison, Maxim Afinogenov, Kim Johnsson, and John Madden.
- Greg Krupa of the Detroit News: Kirk Maltby is hoping to return to the Detroit Red Wings next season. Maltby’s agent says the sides are still talking, and thinks something could get done.