- Bruce Garrioch: Lots of chatter that the Stars are kicking tires on Jason Spezza, have been mentioned before.
- Andy Strickland: 10 to 15 teams have made calls on Paul Stastny. Things could heat up more after the weekend. Stastny won’t sign anywhere before circling back to the Avalanche and giving them one last shot.
- Will DePaoli of Inside Pittsburgh Sports: Four to five team inquired about Brooks Orpik yesterday including the Capitals, Blues and Sabres. The Penguins haven’t ruled out Orpik and are considering a three year offer.
- Josh Cooper of the Tennessean: Predators GM David Poile said they won’t meet any free agents face-to-face, only over the phone. Paul Stastny and Thomas Vanek are unlikely to land with the Predators unless they throw a lot of money at them. Matt Moulson would be cheaper and would give them some need scoring help.
- Tim Campbell of the Winnipeg Free Press: Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff on trade questions regarding Evander Kane.
“Again, these kinds of questions are really unfair,” Cheveldayoff said this morning at the team’s downtown Philadelphia hotel, addressing reporters. “There are lots of conversations that go on. I’m sure there were levels of frustration at different points in time for individual players. From our standpoint, Evander is a Winnipeg Jet and I know that there’s obviously been lots of different rumours out there. At this point in time, that’s how we’re going to proceed. As far as any demands, we’re working as normal here.”
Cheveldayoff is listening to all callers.
“I’ve been pretty open that from an organization standpoint we’re going to listen to everybody,” he said. “If there’s a guy that a team has an interest in, then my phone is open for a phone call. That shouldn’t be characterized that anything is imminent or that I’ve got deals on the table or not, and if I do, there’s certain things that have to happen.”
Cheveldayoff on trade speculation.
“The trade talk is always ramped up around this time of the year,” he said. “I think the uniqueness of the free-agency period where you can actually speak to potential UFAs is a little bit different than in past years. I think there’s a lot of conversations that are going on by general managers on different fronts.
“Trades sometimes happen at the draft because it seems that that’s where the appetite is, but a lot of times those are involving picks. If they’re just straight hockey deals and players, then certainly there’s other times that those things can happen, as well.”
- Tom Gulitti: Martin Brodeur said he won’t be visiting any cities of teams that show interest in him.
- Tim Panaccio: (answering question) Panaccio doesn’t think the chances of the Flyers being able to get into the top five tomorrow are good.