Contract talks between Sergei Gonchar and the Pittsburgh Penguins have been put on hold. Gonchar has a $5 million cap hit this year, but could probably get more as a UFA. The Pens would like to bring him back but it will need to be at a cap friendly, hometown discount number.
Blues coach Andy Murray could be the first coach to be fired this season, and former Thrashers coach Bob Hartley could be his replacement.
The Hurricanes could be looking to dump salaries, and players possibly on the move are Aaron Ward ($2.5 mill.), Joe Corvo ($2.75 mill.), Niclas Wallin ($1.725 mill.) and Ray Whitney.
Despite all the injuries, don’t expect the Red Wings to add any players. Niklas Kronwal, Johan Franzen, Valtteri Filppula, Jason Williams and Adreas Lilja are all out with injuries, but they’ll be too close to the salary cap ceiling to add anyone that has a mid to high cap number.
Four teams have inquired about Niklas Hagman, with one of them being Anaheim. Burke doesn’t really want to move him unless he’s blown away. Hagman has nice cap number of $3 million for the next 2 seasons.
With the lack of trade talk out there, with so many teams almost capped out, Brian Burke will most likely once again push the idea of ‘retaining salary in trades’ at the next GM meetings. Burke thinks this will create the opportunity for more trades, others think it will create ‘Dead Money’.
The Oilers are deep on the blueline and have reportedly been shopping shopping struggling Tom Gilbert. Gilbert could be tough to move with a cap number of $4 million, and 4 years left (after this season).