Update 9:49 am: Brian Compton via twitter: Niklas Lidstrom has agreed to a 1 year contract with the Red Wings,
Update 9:25 am: Pierre LeBrun via twitter: The Red Wings have called an 11:00 am media conference call with Nicklas Lidstrom and Ken Holland.
- Michael Russo of the Star Tribune: Russo lists some trade scuttlebutt. Colorado: Would trade the 11th overall, looking for a goaltender, maybe Jonathan Bernier or Cory Schneider. The Avs want to keep the 2nd overall pick. Columbus: Could trade the 8th overall pick for an impact center or puck moving defenseman. Have talked with Philadelphia and Edmonton. Detroit: Could be offering up Jiri Hudler and/or Valtteri Filppula for a puck moving defenseman. Edmonton: Would like to get another pick in the top 10. Possible players they are shopping are Ales Hemsky, Tom Gilbert, Sam Gagner and Andrew Cogliano. New Jersey: Looking for a puck moving defenseman, rumored to have talked to Wild about Brent Burns. Wouldn’t mind moving the big contract of Brian Rolston and Dainius Zubrus. Philadelphia: Need to trade at least $5 million to be able to sign Ilya Bryzgalov, would like to get a top 10 pick in the draft. Matt Carle, Scott Hartnell and Kris Versteeg are available. Phoenix: Looking for a young goalie. Tampa Bay: Shopping Ryan Malone.
- Michael Russo of the Star Tribune: Wild GM Chuck Fletcher has said anyone is available except Mikko Koivu. Brent Burns might be being offered up for an impact forward. Fletcher has had preliminary talks with Burns’ agent. Burns will be a free agent after next year.
“Whether we make anything happen on the trade front, whether we add players or move up or down in the first round, you never know,” Fletcher said. “But I can guarantee you, whatever we do or don’t do, there will be an awful lot of conversations about an awful lot of things that may or may not make sense to us or the team we’re speaking with.
“Ninety percent of things discussed around the draft don’t happen, but there will be a lot of activity and we’ll be busy. What that means at end of day, we’ll find out.”
It’s likely the Wild will keep the 10th overall pick outright unless a “special scenario” presents itself. Niklas Backstrom, Martin Havlat, Marek Zidlicky and Matt Cullen have no-trade clauses. Teams might be interested in Pierre-Marc Bouchard, Nick Schultz and Greg Zanon. Cal Clutterbuck and AHL dman Marco Scandella may draw some interest, but the Wild may want to keep them. They’ve been trying to trade Cam Barker, but might end up buying him out. The Wild may be interested in moving up in the draft, but more likely, trading down to acquire another 1st or 2nd round pick.
- Frank Seravalli of the Philadelphia Daily News: Ilya Bryzgalov said the ball is in the Flyers court now. “Tuesday or Wednesday everything will be . We are waiting for .” Though a deal could be completed soon, they won’t be able to announce it until cap room is cleared.
- James Murphy via twitter: Tomas Kaberle would prefer to re-sign with the Bruins, and will be meeting with his agent and Peter Chiarelli in the next few days.
- Rich Hammond of LA Kings Insider: The Kings may be looking to get back into the 1st round, but only if the deal makes sense. The Kings have made a “major” offer to Drew Doughty. Kings GM Dean Lombardi has made 2 trips in 4 weeks to Doughty’s agent (Don Meehan) office in Toronto. Lombardi would like to get a contract done before the draft, and isn’t overly concerned about an offer sheet. The Kings are still looking for a top-level forward through trade or free agency.
- Damian Cristodero of the St. Petersburg Times: The Lightning may be looking to trade up from 27th overall at this Friday’s draft. Head scout Al Murray, “There are eight to 10 players who are sort of the consensus top guys. … That next group of probably 40 players is all over the place, depending on individual team needs and individual preferences.” Talks involving a new contract for Sean Bergenheim may not be going great, and he could become a free agent on July 1st. His agent Todd Diamond on if a deal could get done before July 1st, “It’s not going to be easy, but stranger things can happen.” Steve Yzerman wants to get a deal done with Steven Stamkos by July 1st so no team could set the parameters on a new deal.
- Pierre LeBrun of ESPN: Tomas Vokoun’s agent, Michael C. Deutsch, “At this point it looks like he’ll hit the open market on July 1,” and “He’s keeping all his options open, including going back to Florida.” Panthers GM Dale Tallon didn’t rule out trying to re-sign Vokoun,
“We’ll see. It depends what happens between now and July 1. We’re not done yet,” Tallon told ESPN.com on Saturday. “There’s still lots of time. It’s hard to say what’s going to happen.”
It was reported a few days ago that Vokoun told a Czech newspaper that he might be interested in going to Colorado. His agent said those weren’t Vokoun’s quotes.
- Wayne Scanlan of the Ottawa Citizen: Senators GM Bryan Murray said he’s spoken with Oilers GM Steve Tambellini about the 1st overall pick, but doubts the Oilers will move it. “I can imagine who they’d want from us,” Murray said, “our little right-shot defenceman I would think.” He was referring to Erik Karlsson, Murray said he’s not doing that.
