- Mike Zeisberger of the Toronto Sun: Despite being striped of his “C,” taking the brunt of the team’s shortcoming and linked to plenty of rumors (most recently as last week with the report of the Maple Leafs interest), Joe Thornton remains with the Sharks. Sharks GM Doug Wilson wants to make the Sharks younger. Thornton holds the hammer with his no-movement clause. During a one-on-one interview, Thornton spoke of why he wants to stay despite all that has happened recently.
“Because I think we have a really good team that has a legitimate chance of doing something,” Thornton, 35, said. “If I didn’t think that, I don’t think I’d still be here. But I still think we have a good group of guys and we can do something.
“You always hear the talk about teams inquiring and stuff, and the trade rumours. You hear your name in trade rumours. But I’ve never really thought about leaving at all. I always considered coming back.
“I know Doug always said we were going younger. But I always thought we still have some young guys, and that I can still help the young guys as much as I can. I think we have a really good team.”
Thornton has never been asked to waive his clause and added even if other teams made a pitch to get him, it may not matter: “Yes, that’s still my intent (to stay),” he said.
- Pierre LeBrun: With John Gibson out six weeks and Frederik Andersen day-to-day with leg tightness, the Ducks have begun to look at some goalie options. Martin Brodeur, Tomas Vokoun and Ilya Bryzgalov are UFAs and there could be some trade options out there if they want to go that route.The Penguins could be looking to add a top-six winger by the trade deadline to play with Evgeni Malkin. The Pens have trade chips in their defensive depth with: Scott Harrington, Derrick Pouliot, Philip Samuelsson and Brian Dumoulin. Teams may be looking for more established NHLer compared the players mentioned.The Stars plan to meet with Jason Spezza’s reps in the next few weeks with regards to a contract extension.
Blues wanted to start contract extension talks with pending RFA Vladimir Tarasenko before the season started.
“We reached out in September to see if there was any interest in getting things going,” Blues general manager Doug Armstrong told ESPN.com Tuesday. “He said he wanted to wait until the season was over and I said, ‘No problem. After the year we can discuss it then.’ I’m very comfortable with the situation. He’ll be a restricted free agent and I’m sure we’ll get something done when he’s ready to talk.”
There isn’t a team in the NHL that would want Alex Semin’s $7 million per year contract. One Eastern Conference team executive said that the only way they could move him was if the Hurricanes ate like 40 percent of his contract.