- Pierre LeBrun of ESPN: The Flyers may have an interest in Canadiens defenseman Hal Gill, with Stars Nicklas Grossman another possibility. The Stars have begun contract extension talks with Grossman, so he may not be available. The Flyers did talk to the Maple Leafs a couple weeks ago about Luke Schenn. The Lightning have held contract extension talks with Dominic Moore’s camp. If they decide to trade him, the Penguins could be interested. The Coyotes won’t be trading captain Shane Doan.
“Shane is the soul of this franchise, as long we we’re here and he wants to stay here then he’ll be here,” Maloney told ESPN.com. “I have no question whatsoever that if we get an ownership group in place, then we’ll get a deal done with Shane. He’s not going anywhere, unless of course he came to us and asked us otherwise. He’s still a very good player and we want him here for a few more years.”
If the Coyotes are sellers, Ray Whitney could become available. If they are not sellers, they still have a bit of room in their budget to add a player or 2.
It’s too earlier to tell is the Stars will be buyers or sellers.
“I think it’s a little early yet,” Nieuwendyk said. “I think all these teams will have a better idea in a few weeks depending on how things shake out. There’s a lot of tire-kicking going on, but we’ll have to see how things work out.”
5 names that LeBrun thinks the Canadiens should consider for their next GM if they replace Gauthier are: Vincent Damphousse, Tampa assistant GM Julien Brisebois, Chicago assistant GM Marc Bergevin, TV analyst Pierre McGuire and former Flames GM/current TV analyst Craig Button.
- Michael Russo of the Star-Tribune: Wild defenseman Marek Zidlicky isn’t a happy camper. He’s been scratched for 3 consecutive games. Zidlicky indicated he’d be willing to waive his no-trade clause. When asked if he’s asked to be traded:
“That’s, that’s the option, too. That’s only what I’m thinking right now because I still love hockey. That’s my whole life. Every player likes hockey and nobody likes to be healthy scratch three games, four games. It doesn’t help yourself, it doesn’t help your team, it doesn’t help anybody. I’m just thinking it’s pretty tough right now for me. My son, he’s in first grade and he needs both parents here. So it’s very tough. I don’t want to be selfish, go somewhere and I will be happy and leave my son here in the school. So, we will see. I just wanted to say something about this situation because a lot of guys are writing something different about me and I just wanted to tell you my opinion.”
- Aaron Portzline via twitter: Blue Jackets forward Jeff Carter on trade rumors: “Not much I can do about that. That’s something I can’t worry about or control.”
- James Mirtle via twitter: The Maple Leafs haven’t begun contract negotiations with either Mikhail Grabovski or Jonas Gustavsson. Damien Cox via twitter: Cox thinks that if the Leafs want to keep Grabovski, they’ll have to make him a $5 million player.
- Josh Cooper of the Tennessean: Contract negotiations between Ryan Suter and the Nashville Predators are ongoing according to David Poile. Poile said he met with Suter’s agent before Tuesday’s game.
“It’s just ongoing, it’s the same situation,” Poile said. “Everything is being said the way you want a player to say it and the way you want a negotiation to go, except for the final commitment. It’s almost like we’re having a good time together, but we haven’t decided to get married yet.”
“Our plan is to sign Ryan and I will continue to do that up until the trading deadline or past the trading deadline,” Poile said. “The only real deadline we have is July 1. We’ll just keep pecking away at it as time permits.”
Poile added there are not a lot of teams that are sellers at this point.
- Sam Carchidi of the Philadelphia Inquirer: The Flyers may turn their attention towards Hurricanes Bryan Allen or the Canadiens Hal Gill.
- TSN Insider Trading Link: Dreger said if the Predators were to trade Ryan Suter it would take a roster player, A level prospect, B level prospect, and a 1st round pick.
- John Vogl of the Buffalo News: Sabres winger Thomas Vanek suffered an upper-body injury last night in the 1st period, and didn’t return for the 2nd. Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said Vanek is out at least a week.
- Harvey Fialkov of the Sun-Sentinel: Panthers forward Kris Versteeg will be a game-time decision due to the flu. Marco Strum is expected to be back in the lineup.