- David Staple of the Edmonton Journal: Craig Button and Bob Stauffer were talking about the Oilers depth down the middle. Button doesn’t think Derek Roy could help the Oilers.
“He can’t play,” Button said of Roy. “He can’t skate, he can’t play, he’s not big enough, he’s been injured. Basically, he’s not good enough. Wouldn’t touch him.
“Up until about three years ago he was a very good, strong player but he ended up getting injured and the game got quicker and faster and to me he’s just not able to play at the pace and in the Western Conference. Small centreman that can’t skate, I’m not interested.”
Button on going with Mark Arcobello over a player like Roy.
“I’d rather go with an unproven guy that skates better, competes, hasn’t been injured. Players have an expiration date, I get that. And they have a period of time leading up to the expiration date. That’s just the nature of pro sports and that’s never going to change. But I’m not prepared to go and take players who are at that point and don’t fit what your needs are just because they have experience.”
- Sam Carchidi of the Philadelphia Inquirer: The Flyers are still trying to trade Vincent Lecavalier. Teams are asking the Flyers to pay a big part of his salary and include a prospect or pick. If that is the case, it may be a better idea to keep him as he can still be effective on the power play. Carchidi looks at how the Flyers lines could look like next year:
Line 1: Giroux centering Michael Raffl and Jake Voracek.
Line 2: Brayden Schenn centering Lecavalier and Wayne Simmonds.
Line 3: Sean Couturier centering R.J. Umberger and Matt Read.
Line 4: Scott Laughton centering Pierre-Edouard Bellemare (or Jason Akeson) and Zac Rinaldo.Pairing 1: Braydon Coburn and Kimmo Timonen.
Pairing 2: Nick Grossmann and Mark Streit.
Pairing 3: Luke Schenn and Andrew MacDonald.