- Chuck Gormley of CSN Washington: The Capitals now have a nice one-two punch down the middle with Nicklas Backstrom and Evgeny Kuznetsov. If the price and term are right, maybe three years, Eric Fehr could be a nice third line center.
“I really enjoy playing here,” Fehr said when asked about his pending unrestricted free agency. “Obviously, I have a lot of friends here and I’ve been here a lot of years. I think this is a special group. Obviously, I’d love to be back here, but looking at the amount of guys we have unsigned right now you just don’t know what’s going to happen.”
His shoulder issues may keep the Caps at three years and not four and at around $10 million.
“Having a lot of shoulder injuries in the past has been an issue and people have shied away from me for this reason,” Fehr said. “But I don’t think there’s any reason now. It’s kind of a fluke injury, more of a hockey injury than some of the other injuries I’ve had in the past.”
- Ken Campbell of The Hockey News: The Bruins don’t need to make a complete overhaul, but they do need to make some changes. Do they make a bold move and trade defenseman Zdeno Chara? Chara has a no-movement clause and three-years left on his deal. Would new Oilers GM Peter Chiarelli be interested and would Chara follow Chiarelli? Could they work out a Chara and Brad Marchand package? Bruins fans may have to realize, that if new GM Don Sweeney wants to trade Chara, they may not get much of a return for him. It would create $6.5 million in cap space for each of the next three seasons.
- AP in the Detroit Free Press: Russian Senator and former Detroit Red Wing, Slava Fetisov, is wanting Russia to bring back restrictions preventing young hockey players from heading to North America to play before they turn 28-years old. The goal is to keep “our most talented guys, the ones who the people come to see.” Fetisov left for New Jersey when he was 31-years old to play in the NHL. He was one of the first Russian players to come overseas when the Soviet Union relaxed on their rules.
