Morning Hits: 6 outdoor games, Oilers rumors, Sakic, Sabres, Briere, Datsyuk, Olympics and Laganiere

Jan. 1st – Maple Leafs and Red Wings at Michigan Stadium

Jan. 25th – Ducks and Kings at Dodger Stadium

Jan. 26th – Devils and Rangers at Yankee Stadium

Jan. 29th – Islanders and Rangers at Yankee Stadium

March 1st – Penguins and Blackhawks at Soldier Field

March 2nd – Senators and Canucks BC Place

“I’m an impatient guy and I bring that impatience to this situation. We’re at the stage… that we have to do some bold things,” Craig MacTavish said at Monday’s news conference introducing him as the Oilers’ new GM. “We have to expose ourselves to some semblance of risk to try and move the team forward in a rapid fashion. We’ve got a lot of primary pieces here, but we’ve got to add some depth to help these young players.

“We’ve got to add competitiveness. I think we lack a true understanding of just how difficult it is to have success at this level.”

The Oilers will go after defenseman Mark Streit if he hits the open market, but so will many other teams. There will be Ales Hemsky rumors. They could look at moving either Sam Gagner or Nail Yakupov.  They would like to re-sign RFA Gagner. The Oilers could let teams talk to Gagner to see if a deal could be worked out, then talk to the team about a trade. Friedman thinks the Oilers would listen to a “massive offer” for Yakupov.

Friedman thinks that the Avalanche have talked to Joe Sakic about an increased role with the team, but decided that he wasn’t ready. He wants to sure that he’s ready and he still wants to be around his family, he has three kids.

Sabres GM Darcy Regier said he wasn’t close to trading either Ryan Miller or Thomas Vanek at the deadline as “the value wasn’t there.” Both will be UFAs after next season, and if an extension can’t be worked out, they’ll be dealt. They’ll meet after the season and see where things go.

Friedman wonders if the Flyers buyout Daniel Briere, would the Sabres bring him back?

Sabres Steve Ott on licking Jeff Halpern’s visor: “I was just with him.”

Friedman spoke with Pavel Datsyuk’s agent who said that he’s talked with GM Ken Holland. Rumors are that Datsyuk will head back to Russia after next season. Sounded like the sides may have have talked about the possibility of a contract extension.

For the 2014 Sochi Olympics, NHL and NHLPA estimate travel cost to be between $4-7 million and insurance cost between $7-10 million.

NHL denied reports that the Maloofs are looking to bring a hockey team to Vegas. They haven’t talked about that in about five years.