Morning Hits: Lucic, Iginla’s Bonuses, Alfredsson, Beleskey, Galchenyuk, Coyle, Ducks and Moulson
Bob McKenzie: If the Ducks beat the Kings, the Western Conference Final will open in Anaheim. If the Kings beat the Ducks, the series will start in Chicago. Darren Dreger: Canadiens Dale Weise said that Bruins Milan Lucic threatened him during…
Roster Notes: Oilers, Leafs, Red Wings, Capitals, Islanders, Avalanche and Blue Jackets
Joanne Ireland: The Oilers have sent defenseman Denis Grebeshkov to the AHL on a conditioning assignment and recalled Philip Larsen. They have also re-assigned Brandon Davidson. Corey Pronman: The Maple Leafs re-assign T.J. Brennan to the AHL. Ansar Khan: The…
Quick Hits: Wild, Fraser, Hemsky, Franson, Kearns and Grebeshkov
Charly Walters of the Pioneer Press: (s/t Adrian Dater) Walters notes that a "little birdie" says that the Wild lost $30 million last season. Zach Parise and Ryan Suter had bonuses totaling $20 million. Darren Dreger: For Mark Fraser's arbitration…
Free Agent Hits II: Pietrangelo, Stewart, Brunner, Grabovski, Grebeshkov, Cuma, Zuccarello and Stepan
Andy Strickland of True Hockey: Alex Pietrangelo has told his representative to solely focus on a deal with the Blues and not an offer sheet from another team. Both sides are working on a deal, but are in the early…
Backstrom still day-to-day … DiPietro back soon … Possible Avs goalie targets … Halpren and Plekanec injured
Katie Carrera of the Washington Post: Capitals center Nicklas Backstrom is still day-to-day with a fractured thumb. He was on the ice taking shots yesterday, testing it out, no timetable is set. Semyon Varlamov, out with knee issues, is ready…
Frolov getting interest from Rangers and Kings … Other Russian FA’s … Tampa Bay Lightning talk
Genadi Boguslavski via twitter: The New York Rangers have talked to Alexander Frolov's agent. Dmitry Chesnokov via twitter: Frolov's agent has said the Rangers are very interested, and the LA Kings have shown interest in the last couple days. Dmitry…
Kovalchuk and Kings close … Market to open up soon? Malkin to the wing with Crosby
Nick Kyperos via Twitter: 8:40 AM Post - "A big swing in the Ilya/Kings talks. Major stumbling blocks have been rectified. A source now described it to me as "close but not done" Mike Russo via Twitter: Lockout protection has…
Qualifying offers and other Free Agency Rumors
Yesterday at 5:00 pm was the deadline for teams to make qualifying offers from their RFAs. If they didn't receive a qualifying offer, they'll become a UFA. Bryan Mullen of the Tennessean: The Nashville Predators did not qualify Denis Grebeshkov…
Kaberle trade talk heating up … Spezza for the 4th pick? New GMs looking to make moves?
Elliotte Friedman of CBC: The Columbus Blue Jackets may be making a stronger push next season to make the playoffs, and could be kicking around the idea of trading their 4th overall draft pick. The Blue Jackets still need to…
Cooke’s hit a ‘shoulder to the head’ according to Colin Campbell … GMs talking Headshots in Florida … Injury Updates
James Murphy of NESN: The NHL's chief disciplinarian Colin Campbell has said that Matt Cooke's hit on Marc Savard was a shoulder to the head, rather than an elbow to the head. Campbell and about 7 others watched the hit…
Around the Boards: Thurs. Oct. 29th
From the RDS, through translation: Ilya Kovalchuk could be close to signing a 9 year deal with the Thrashers for more than $100 million, averaging $11.3 million per season. We'll write a separate blog to comment on this. James Murphy…
Some Numbers Just Don’t Add Up
Every free agent period there are always going to be some head scratchers, either for dollar value, length of contract or both. There's not need to go over Hossa's, Gionta's, Cammallari's or Antropov's contact again, but let's take a look…