- Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun: Jason Spezza has 5 years and $35 million left his salary, and he has a no-movement clause that doesn’t kick in until July 1st. Many fans (44% of those polled by the Sun) would like to see him dealt away. The Sun contacted 5 teams to see if Spezza’s name was out there, but they hadn’t heard anything. “There’s no market for him,” said Sportsnet analyst Doug MacLean, a former GM of the Columbus Blue Jackets. “I think what you do is you hope that he improves. You’ve got (Milan) Michalek and you hope those two can develop some chemistry. You just have to plug around (Spezza).” If they could deal him, they probably wouldn’t get equal value back. Garrioch mentions 3 teams that could be interested in Spezza, Tampa Bay, Columbus, and Edmonton.
- Don Brennan of the QMI Agency, Toronto Star: Anton Volchenkov appears be getting ready to move on from Ottawa Senators, as he’s put his house up for sale. The Washington Capitals are reportedly getting ready to offer him somewhere in the $5 million a season range. The Senators would still like to re-sign him, but contract talks are going nowhere. Retaining Andy Sutton could be plan B for the Sens.
- Boston Herald: Trading Tim Thomas this off-season became a little tougher as he had surgery on a torn hip labrum, and it will be 3-4 months recovery. Andrew Ference had hernia surgery that will require 2 month recovery. Vladimir Sobotka will have shoulder surgery on Tuesday.
- Chris McCosky of the Detroit News: Tomas Holmstrom took a hometown discount on his last Detroit Red Wings contract, but that may not be the case this time around. The 37-year old is looking for a multi-year deal. From his agents, “On the last contract, Tomas took a hometown discount so the organization would have enough cap room to keep everybody here (in Detroit). But at the end of the day, Tomas is going to have to feel he’s being treated fairly in the realm of what is taking place in the locker room.”
- Ron Cook of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Though the Penguins have said they aren’t interested in trading Evgeni Malkin, Cook thinks they’d be crazy not to listen to offers, and I agree with him. Why not listen to what teams will throw your way? Though they wouldn’t get the best player in any deal, they should be able to get a lot of nice pieces that might improve their team on a whole. A star winger, a top 2-4 defenseman, a prospect, maybe a pick or 2? Malkin and Crosby make a combined $17.4 million, toss in Jordan Staal, and that’s about $21.4 million in your top 3 centermen.