- Ian Mendes of TSN: Jason Spezza to make it clear that the pressure of playing in Canada was not the reason he wanted to be traded.
“I don’t think that’s accurate,” Spezza told TSN.ca. “My biggest motivator for a trade was to win. It will be portrayed however they want it to be portrayed, but the last thing I was worried about was coming out and doing interviews in front of my stall.”
“It was more circumstance than anything of why those (Canadian) teams were on my list. I have one year left on my deal and I wanted to go someplace where I could win a Cup,” Spezza said.
Spezza has one year left on his deal and was not interested in re-sign with the Senators.
“I didn’t have any interest in signing an extension and that kind of hinted to them that maybe it was time to move on. I met with Bryan and had some really good and frank discussions. And I was being honest with them when I said it was best for me and best for them if I moved on,” Spezza explained.
- Helene St. James: The Sharks had been trying to trade Brad Stuart for a couple days. The Wings were on his list of teams that he would waive his no-trade clause for, but they didn’t want to give up a 2nd and 6th round pick. At the time the deal was offered, they were trying to save money in attempt to land a right-shot defenseman. Stuart was traded to the Avalanche before all the Red Wings options fell through.
- Pierre LeBrun: Hearing the Penguins did speak with Martin Brodeur but they couldn’t make the money work.
- Joe Smith: There were free agents that the Lightning were no able to sign, but they are happy with who they were able to sign.
- Andy Strickland: The Blues signed Jori Lehtera to a $3.25 million salary for next season, and he’ll get a $1.6 million signing bonus. Igor Eronko: Lehtera owe Sibir of the KHL $1.2 million for the preterm contract termination. The buyout was by Lehtera.
- Sarah McLellan: The Coyotes had been talking with Joe Vitale for three or four days before signing him yesterday.
- Rob Vollman: Look at the top of the free agent market:
Goalies left: Thomas, Bryz
Top-4 Def left: None
Top-6 Fwd left: Vrbata, Grabovski, Legwand
Bottom-6 Fwd left: Moss, Winnik, Stempniak +more