On the Maple Leafs …
- Craig Custance of ESPN: Joffery Lupul has been productive under Mike Babcock, scoring seven goals in 18 games. It is still too early to suggest there is a trade market for Lupul. The Maple Leafs would love to trade him and his $5.25 million cap hit (two years left). The Leafs may have to retain salary in a Lupul trade, and they have already used two of their allotted three slots.
On the Canadiens …
- TSN 960: Bob McKenze on TSN 960 on Alex Semin. (transcribed by myNHLtraderumors)
“Well, I’m sure that you know the odd injury, here or there, the door is slightly ajar for him to re-establish himself. But, they don’t have a lot invested in him. I mean, forget about the fact that Alex Semin the name has a connotation of a guy that have made 6, 7 million buck a year, he’s a big time scorer in the National Hockey League.
But, the Montreal Canadian perspective, he’s a $1 million a year hockey player. A million dollar a year hockey player who if he’s not getting the job done or isn’t fitting in, can easily be cut loose and no cap pain whatsoever, because wow, $50,000. You’re allowed to bury $950,000 in the minors, and so at any given time if they want to do that, they have that option. But, I think right now they are still in the mode where they are trying to get something out of him and fit in and see where they are at.”
On the Stars …
- Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News: (mailbag) Asked who he thinks the Stars could look close the trade deadline.
If Boston is open to it and hasn’t re-signed Loui Eriksson, I think he would be a player that would be a good fit as a rental. (although making that deal after the Seguin trade might be tough to pull off). If San Jose or Vancouver is struggling, I’d inquire about Brent Burns or Alex Edler and put up some of the young guns as bait. That’s just barstool talk, but now I can say that I said it first if it ever happens.
On the Wild …
- Chris Nichols of Today’s Slapshot: Elliotte Friedman on Sportsnet 960 on the Wild.
“One team that’s pretty interesting to me is Minnesota. The Wild have a couple of kids in the American Hockey League – defensemen, one of them Mike Reilly – who are getting pretty close to being ready. They have four defenseman – I think five defensemen, actually, 25 and younger. They’ve got some extra blueliners. There are teams in this league looking for D. Minnesota, I’ve been told, is a team to kind of watch – when do they pull the trigger, if they want to go and find something else to help them.
“Now, I think ideally the Wild would like to wait until those two young guys they think are ready for the NHL, but if somebody tempts them sooner with something they can really use, I know there’s teams calling Minnesota looking for their extra defensemen.”