- Hope Smoke: Mark Spector: “It shouldn’t be MacTavish standing at that podium, it should be Katz.” “The guys who should be talking about their jobs are the ones that have brought in all the failed experiments in Edmonton.” “We’re already into next year. Trying to make any trades for this season would be pure foolishness.” “A long period here of playing meaningless hockey games until Jan/Feb when it gets closer to the trade deadline”
- Hope Smoke: Elliotte Friedman on Fan 590: “I think there were some pretty high level meetings there where a lot of honest things were said” “MacTavish is the kind of guy who has said: I’m not blaming the coach for this & I’m not making a trade just to finish 25th” “I think if Oilers are trading Hall, & I have no doubt they’ve dipped their toe in that, it’s for a return that they will say wow” “They know that worst thing they can do right now is lose a trade like that. To move Hall/Eberle & say: ok what did we get here?” “That’s why I think Perron hasn’t been traded. They’ve been working on trading him for a long time, but I don’t think he gets them enough of what they need. I do think they’re looking at it like they’re not just going to give him away. There are teams out there that have said Edm is asking for too much than what Perron is worth. It shows you their mindset is to do it not just for the sake of doing it. From what other teams are telling me, Edmonton is aiming really high.”
- Hope Smoke: Elliotte Friedman: “I don’t see Ruff getting fired. I think Nill is a very patient guy. Don’t forget how wanted Ruff was a year and a half ago. I think if the Rangers decide to move Staal if they can’t sign him, and I’m saying IF, or the Hawks look at their cap situation and decide they need to move Seabrook, I think the Stars are going to be all in if an A level D becomes available. Think that’s what Nill is saving his final bullet for. His team in particular needs it & it’ll be tough for Ruff to win until they find a guy like that.”
- Nichols on Hockey: Bob McKenzie on the Ducks.
“Anaheim has wanted defense and I think will continue to want defense. I think they’d like to make some big moves between now and the deadline to bolster their deadline. Because I think they’re starting to sense, ‘Hey, you know what? This might be as good as we get right here in the next year or two. Let’s take advantage of it.’ So I think Bob Murray is probably going to go for it. And so I could see him trying to make some big moves, but some of this is just predicated on an incredible rash of injuries on the blueline.”
- Darren Dreger on TSN 690 on the cap situation that the Kings will face.
“Look at the players that Lombardi still has to sign. You’ve got Pearson and Toffoli on that list for next year, and they’re not going to sign for chump change, so he has a ton of work to do. That’s why the Mike Richards rumors aren’t going to go away. I heard one about Dustin Brown the other day, although a Kings’ source quickly refuted, said, ‘No, he’s not in play.’
“But they’re going to have to move something, or a number of players, just to deal with what they have to deal with, but he continues to get key players signed, so I’m sure he’s got an out-clause in some way.”
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Dreger on TSN 1290 on Wednesday on Vinny Lecavalier.
“And this is an interesting story, and I brought it up last night on Insider Trading. Vinny Lecavalier has three more years on his contract after this year. $6 million this year. 4.5 next year. Then his salary drops to $3 million and $3 million. And my sense is that he’s going to pack it in after next year. He has three young kids and he wants to spend time with his young family. So he wants to play out this year, play one more year.
