Pierre LeBrun of ESPN: LeBrun looks at 10 players who could be moved by the February 28th trade deadline; Brad Richards, Tomas Vokoun, Tomas Kaberle, Joffrey Lupul, Alexei Kovalev, Tim Connolly, Jason Arnott, Jamie Langenbrunner, Devin Setoguchi, and Joni Pitkanen.
Andy Strickland of True Hockey: Recently acquired Marco Sturm is looking at a December 23rd debut for the LA Kings, with an outside shot at their December 21st game. The Kings apparently haven’t been concerned about Sturm knee, he had some arthritic buildup that pushed back his return date. Blues defenseman Roman Polak will see a doctor today and is looking to return to the Blues lineup in January.
Jeremy Rutherford of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: The Blues got the results back from Erik Johnson’s MRI on his right knee, and it was finally something on the good side of things. The MRI revealed a slight strain and he’s listed as day-to-day, and hasn’t been ruled out of Saturday’s game. The Blues have lost 108 man games so far this season, with 12 missing at least 1 game, 4 players have missed more than 10.
Mike Chambers of the Denver Post: Colorado Avalanche center Paul Stastny says he’s day-to-day with a back injury. He awkwardly hit the boards after being hit in Wednesday’s game against the Blackhawks.
Darren Dreger of TSN: Former Calgary Flames coach admits there was tension in the locker room between Dion Phaneuf and some teammates during his days in Calgary. Some teammates called him “Neon Dion” as they found him overconfident/cocky at times. Some players wanted Phaneuf to be disciplined for his sometimes “combative nature and verbal approach”, but Keenan didn’t.
Steve Zipay via twitter: Vinny Prospal should return to the NY Rangers no earlier than mid-January.
Jim Gintonio via twitter: Once the Phoenix Coyotes sale becomes finalized, the teams first priority will be to re-sign Ilya Bryzgalov for 5 more years.
Tim Sassone of the Daily Herald: Blackhawks GM Stan Bowman has said he’d like to improve along the blueline and at center, but their tight against the cap and a move may have to wait until deadline day.
