- Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet: Martin Brodeur wants to go out on his own terms and has a deadline date in mind, but won’t say when it is. It is thought that he has four or five teams on his list, with the focus on the Western Conference. He’s not looking to take the starters job. And when he’s done playing …
“I don’t know,” he said. “I know hockey, I’ve been around the game a lot, I’ve talked to Lou (Lamoriello) a lot about things, but I have to learn…If I like it, I’d love to be a GM, but I don’t know if I’m suited for it.” What about coaching? “No. It’s a lot of work to be a hockey player, it’s a lot harder to be a coach. So maybe thats why I don’t want to be a coach,” he said with a laugh.
The Blue Jackets don’t believe Nathan Horton’s back injury will end his career, like the rumor that is going around. His injury may be worse than they originally thought though.
It is thought that the Flames, Avalanche, Sharks and Jets were interested in Nick Leddy before the Blackhawks dealt him to the Islanders.
Deryk Engelland said that the Coyotes and Maple Leafs were interested in him before signing with the Flames.
They can’t sign new contracts until after January 1st, but talk is that the Bruins and Torey Krug and Reilly Smith ended their stalemates with friendly one-year deals, as they had also discussed their next contracts.
- Dan Rosen of NHL.com: (mailbag) On the Blackhawks trading of Nick Leddy and not Johnny Oduya: Oduya has a lower-body issue that may have hurt his trade value.
- Dennis Bernstein: Gary Bettman on expansion: “you don’t make decisions based on symmetry.” (going to 32 teams)
- Darren Dreger: The Red Wings are still looking for a right handed defenseman. They may have to continue waiting for the right player to be made available.
- Marc Antoine Godin: Peter Budaj: “I would have never asked for trade if that thing in the playoffs had not happened. I wanted to stay. Had a great relationship w/ CP and wanted to be a part of a team I felt good in. It was kind of taken away from me. I wished the coaching staff would trust me a little more because I thought I did a decent job when I had a chance to play.”