- Bob Duff of the Windsor Star: Red Wings coach Mike Babcock didn’t really agree with GM Ken Holland on the decision to demote Xavier Ouellet.
“What did I say yesterday?” Babcock snapped when asked about the decision to send defenceman Xavier Ouellet to AHL Grand Rapids. “You’re talking to the wrong guy. What’s next?”
“Well, that’s a great question to have,” Babcock said. “I don’t have to answer that one, though. I just said I’d ask the other guy and then I’ll support everything he’s decided.”
Babcock said he was out voted.
“I got my two cents in, so I get one vote,” Babcock said. “He (Holland) gets two, so he can win, 2-1.
“It’s almost exactly like at home: I get one vote and my wife gets two, and I lose 2-1 lots.”
- Jason Botchford of the Vancouver Province: The Canucks aren’t trading Eddie Lack. They could if they received a quality young player (especially a center), but they are not getting offers like that. Something could change, but Lack needs to excel and the trade market needs to open up.
- James Mirtle: Maple Leafs Stephane Robidas said that he had interest from seven or eight teams. He wasn’t sure if there would have been any interest due to his leg injury. The Leafs pushed hard for him.
- Joe Haggerty of CSNNE: Bruins president Cam Neely on the cap situation they faced this past offseason.
“We’re in a situation based on last year where we kind of went ‘all-in’, and fell short. Now we’re paying the price a little bit,” said Bruins President Cam Neely. “That’s what happens. You look at some of the teams that have developed over the years that have become Stanley Cup contenders, or won Stanley Cups. Ultimately you end up paying your better players what their worth is. When you want to try to keep as many guys as you’d like to keep winning championships, the gets thinned out pretty quick.
“We’ve done a good job of compensating the players that help us win, and we feel are going to help us win in the future. It’s never easy, especially now,” Neely said. “I think we’ve done a pretty good job managing it, but as you get better, and better…then guy’s contracts come up. They know what their peers are making. On the other side I understand what we can and cannot do.”
- Joe Haggerty of CSNNE: Bruins Brad Marchand on 98.5 Radio yesterday on writers posting trade rumors about him, especially the Marleau rumor (straight up one-for-one offer … with Marleau making $2 million more and the Bruins having cap issues).
“I’d love to see some of these guys away from the rink and have a few words with them. I’d love some of these guys to get fired, is what I’d love. I’d love for them to be in my position, and tell them, ‘All right, you’re getting fired because you’re doing a horrible job at actually getting real information.’ I’d love to go back through the tweets in the summer and see how many reporters’ tweets about who’s getting traded, and the trades that were coming. How many of them were right? None of them.”