- Hope Smoke: Bob McKenzie: “Everyone’s talking about Eric Staal now, but I think the fork in the road for Ron Francis was at the draft or shortly there after” … “That was the time when he said Rutherford did things certain ways & we’re going to turn the page and start fresh…””…that page was trading E.Staal, Ward & maybe J.Staal and burning it all down and doing what Buffalo’s doing” … “Francis didn’t do that. He decided to stay the course & compete for a playoff spot and see what happens”
- Hope Smoke: Darren Dreger: “If Kadri doesn’t have a very good year I’d be surprised if he’s in Toronto beyond the trade deadline” … “That’s mostly because the Leafs still have needs & they have to really determine if they see Kadri as a #2, he is. If he can position himself as a #1, doesn’t seem likely.” … “If there’s a trade opportunity that makes sense where you can better your team you do it because the long-term future of Kadri in Toronto doesn’t look that significant”
- Nichols on Hockey: Elliotte Friedman on SportsNet 590 on the Carolina Hurricanes.
“The one thing is they’ve got parts they can sell. Sekera, a defenseman, 44-point season last year. He’s going to be 29 years old. Teams are really watching him to see what they’ve got.
“Obviously Eric Staal. There’s going to be a lot of questions about what he wants and what they might want to do with him. I know there’s a lot of interest. I know the Maple Leafs have talked about it with them. I think St. Louis has talked about it with them. ‘If Eric Staal is willing to go, what are we discussing here. What’s his value?’
“I think there’s a lot of teams that think that he’s still got a lot of mileage left. I think it simply comes down to how long are the Hurricanes going to wait before they want to do this? Is it something like – I heard before the season, someone said to me that the Hurricanes’ decision was, ‘We’d like to wait until December to see where we really are and then start making these decisions.’
“Do they move that schedule up? Do they simply look at it and say, ‘Okay, we can start doing it now,’ or do they wait another month to see where they really are. Because I think we know now, unfortunately.
- Nichols on Hockey: Elliotte Friedman on 630 CHED on Brayden Schenn.
Flyers GM Ron Hextall “believes he’s not going to make one of those short-term fix moves that the Flyers are famous for. And he’s going to do things properly. So if he’s trading Brayden Schenn, then he’s doing it for a long-term fix.
“The other thing too is they’ve still got Vinnie Lecavalier there, and if you’re going to play him, you’re going to play him at center. It doesn’t make sense to put him anywhere else. So I think maybe Schenn can go, but he’s going for something long-term.”
More on the Flyers – P.K. Subban, Shea Weber and Tyler Myers.
“It wouldn’t surprise me – you know what – if Montreal hadn’t signed Subban, I think Philadelphia was prepared to make a big offer for him. I’ve heard, and I’ve never had it denied to me, that the whole reason that Philly signed Weber to that offer sheet was that they thought the Rangers were going to trade for him. Like, they are on the prowl for a defenseman. And it makes you wonder: If Tyler Myers is indeed going to get traded, maybe Philly is one of the teams trying to make a deal. But the price is high, and, as I said, the one thing Hextall has made very clear is he’s not giving up futures unless it’s for a lock.”
