Katie Carrera: Alex Ovechkin: “It’s not about me or Backy or somebody else. It starts on top and if they want to change, they have to change.” Clarifying quote: He’s saying it’s not up to him if they make changes, but he would provide input if he’s asked. Decisions are above him.
ESPN: Panthers Ed Jovanovski is fined $5,000 by the NHL for elbowing Blue Jackets Corey Tropp.
Darren Dreger: The Devils put Tim Sestito on waivers. The Panthers put Colby Robak on waivers.
Adrian Dater: Ilya Bryzgalov will be the Wild’s starter against the Avalanche.
Hope Smoke: Bob McKenzie: “The Leafs have a lot of $ tied up for a lot of years in Clarkson. Everyone knew the Leafs overpaid for Clarkson” … “They overpaid because every team in the league that had an opening wanted Clarkson” … “I don’t think the Leafs style helped Clarkson and I don’t think Clarkson helped himself.” … “I think Clarkson got a lot more PP time with NJ than he did in Toronto.” … “I think salvaging Clarkson as a top 6 guy is one of the Leafs’ biggest priorities this off-season”
Hope Smoke: Bob McKenzie: “The new structure in Toronto is that Shanahan is the boss. That includes all the marketing & business side of the hockey club” … “I think what you’re going to see, & probably not immediately, is that he’s going to want to have a vision of organization & team” … “Which means, he’s going to want to surround himself with really good people. He did that while working for the NHL” … “In that position Shanahan brought in Rob Blake, Stephan Quintal and Brian Leetch. Had a whole team that he really relied on” … “He’s going to look to assemble his own dream team in Toronto. I don’t know if Nonis will be part of that” … “I know Shanahan won’t make any knee jerk decisions on dismissing Nonis immediately after taking over” … “No question that Shanahan has a long list of people that he’s had in his sphere of influence that he wants to bring into the fold”
