- Nick Kypreos: “In wake of Carlyle rant this morning 2 #NHL clubs have confirmed for me #Leafs have made Kadri available in any trade discussion.” (If you missed some of what Carlyle said, can read some of it here by Michael Traikos of the National Post)
- Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal: (mailbag) Though there may have been Wayne Simmonds to the Oilers rumors, the Flyers are not trading him now. Ales Hemsky will be traded to a team looking for a top-six winger. The Penguins might look at Hemsky, along with Mike Cammalleri of the Flames. When asked if the Oilers are shopping Nail Yakupov: GM Craig MacTavish is wanting to ride it out with Yakupov in hopes of him improving his defensive side. He’s not going anywhere, especially when his market value is low.
- Gary Lawless of the Winnipeg Free Press: Penguins GM Ray Shero is said to have some interest in Jets forwards Andrew Ladd, Evander Kane and Blake Wheeler. If Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff thinks that any of those players are part of the Jets future, talks won’t last long. Any trade talks would likely include the Penguins defensive prospects and draft picks. It would take a big package to get any of those players out of Winnipeg. The Jets may be looking to add forwards instead, but adding blueline depth doesn’t hurt. Olli Maata’s name came up in talks, but he is believed to be untouchable. Other names that might come up: Derrick Pouliot, Simon Depres, Scott Harrington, Brian Dumoulin and Beau Bennett. A first rounder and either Pouliot or Depres might be a conversation starter.
- Toronto Sun: Leo Komarov would like to come back to the NHL and with the Maple Leafs.
“I enjoyed it there, it was probably the best time of my life,” Komarov told KHL.hr. “I was really happy to play with the Leafs and I hope they are going to take me back, but you never know what’s going to happen. They hold my rights until July and I would love to get an offer from the Leafs.”
“I’m not that kind of a player,” he said. “Everything was good with the Leafs and I really enjoyed it there. But I didn’t get the offer I maybe wanted, and I wanted to play a lot of minutes over here (in the KHL) because it’s an Olympic year and I knew that if I came back to Dynamo I’d get a lot of ice time. It’s hard to say really, I liked the team, the city, everything – coming back (to Russia) was a hard decision.”
