- Ben Kuzma of the Vancouver Province: Rumors are heating up that the Washington Capitals are looking to move Tomas Fleischmann for a defenseman. Fleischmann has 4 goals in 22 games, was a healthy scratch mid November against the Sabres, and is a UFA at seasons end. The Capitals were interested in Kevin Bieksa in the off-season. There was a late night rumor last night that Fleischmann could be heading to the LA Kings.
- Jeremy Rutherford of the St. Louis Dispatch: David Perron has missed his 12th straight game will post-concussion symptoms. He’s now able to at least play video games, before he was only able to rest. Perron was hit days ago by Joe Thornton (I guess those people calling him a faker were completely wrong, and no I’m not referring to Gary Bettman), and feels he’s getting ‘close’ to being symptom free. Perron said this about Thornton, “Obviously he’s not trying to hurt me there. He doesn’t know it’s going to go on this long and I’m going to miss this many games, so obviously he wouldn’t do that.”
- Chris Zupke of the OC Register: Teemu Selanne said he’ll be ready to return to the Ducks lineup tonight. Lubomir Visnovsky will see today how his back is feeling before declaring if he will/won’t play tonight. Joffery Lupul could rejoin the team today after playing a few games with Syracuse of the AHL.
- Ben Kuzma of the Vancouver Province: Sami Salo continues to rehab from his ruptured Achilles, with reports of him beginning skating in 3 weeks, with a possible January return. No timetable has been set.
- Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal: Avalanche defenseman Kyle Cumiskey could be trade bait, they are looking to add some grit and leadership. Evgeni Malkin is having another ‘average’ season, and the Penguins might consider dealing him for a heavy ransom, and go with Jordan Staal as their #2 center. The Oilers may have an interest in Dallas Stars Dman Mark Fistric. The Stars may not be interested in giving Brad Richards a deal in the 6-8 year range as they may be worried about his foot speed as he gets older. The Stars may prefer a 3 year deal. The Kings will be interested if the Stars are thinking of dealing him.
- Larry Brooks of the NY Post: Brooks wonders if the Devils would consider trading Martin Brodeur. Lou would likely never approach Brodeur about this, Brodeur would have to bring it up with Lou. The Capitals would have to be interested if he were to become available. The Capitals could send a young goaltenders, “John Carlson or Karl Alzner — Mike Green? as well as young center.
- Lance Hornby of the Toronto Sun: Ron Wilson continues to juggle his lines looking for some sort of offense. Tyler Bozak who was/is the teams number 1 center was dropped to the 3rd and 4th lines in Saturday’s loss to the Senators. The Leafs are on a 0-7-1 road streak and having only scored 16 goals on the road in 10 games.
- Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun: The Maple Leafs aren’t considering sending Tyler Bozak to the Marlies, but Simmons thinks they should reconsider as he’s “He is 316th in the NHL in scoring, 394th in scoring at even strength, 153rd in power-play points. He is on pace for a terrible 23-point season.” Simmons wonders what the trade value for Mikhail Grabovski would be if Burke through his name out there, his value may not get higher than it is now.