- Chris Nichols of Nichols on Hockey: Elliotte Friedman on the Nick Leddy and Johnny Boychuk trades.
“It’s interesting. I think with Leddy, I think that Chicago had a lot of suitors. San Jose. I think Calgary was looking at him. Colorado, which has always been looking for defencemen. Winnipeg. And I don’t know if they wanted to send him East or what the story was, but the Islanders ended up with him.
“Boychuk, I think that’s the one that took some people by surprise. I think there were – and I know that I kind of felt this way too, that maybe Boston would keep Boychuk until the end of the season, see how he did, see if they could sign him during the year. But I heard they weren’t getting much in the way of offers for McQuaid and Bartkowski and Chris Kelly and some of the other guys they were looking to move and this was something that gives them some flexibility to do a few things and maybe more later.”
Friedman on Dustin Penner.
“I think there was a team or two, maybe Edmonton, that looked at Penner.”
“I know that teams looked at Penner and said no.”
- Hope Smoke: Bob McKenzie: “I think the Bruins did very good under the circumstances of a player they weren’t going to be able to sign at the end of the year”
- Hope Smoke: Bob McKenzie: “I know some Hawks fans would have rather moved out Oduya over Leddy but Q really likes him & that pair as his shutdown duo” … “Understand this, the Blackhawks got a good young player in Pokka who may be a better player than Leddy down the road.”
- Hope Smoke: Bob McKenzie: “I think most teams are content with what they have in net. You have Brodeur, Vokoun & Bryzgalov all floating around”
- Hope Smoke: Bob McKenzie: “I know that they were hunting around and seeing what centres might be available” … “They have to be careful because they’re a budget team. That’s a real issue there”
- Hope Smoke: Nick Kypreos: “they tried to throw Reimer away at the draft and they couldn’t do it”