Olympic and Free Agent Notes: Soderberg, Budaj, Howard, Kadri and Rask
From twitter unless otherwise noted Pierre LeBrun: The NHL, NHLPA, IOC and IIHF will meet on Friday to continue their discussions on participating in the 2014 Sochi Olympics. An agreement is not expected yet. Darren Dreger: Carl Soderberg could be…
Quick Hits: Visors, Duchene and O’Reilly not talking, realignment and scouting Leafs-Senators
Eric Macramalla via twitter: The players said no to mandatory visors last year. It needs players consent as per the CBA. Larry Brooks via twitter: Bill Daly said in an email that mandatory visors was "discussed briefly" during the CBA talks…
Trade Rumors: Avalanche, Penguins, Blue Jackets, Flames and Blues
Adrian Dater of the Denver Post: If the Avalanche want to trade Ryan O'Reilly at some point, they are going to have to give him the minutes to put up the points. That would mean that either Matt Duchene or…
Blues notes … Avalanche got Burned … Scouting the Flyers, Blues-Hawks, Bruins-Sens … Leafs Will Need to Make Roster Moves
Andy Strickland of TrueHockey: A Blues trade of Kevin Shattenkirk for Daniel Briere makes zero sense for the Blues. Shattenkirk will eventually sign a contract extension with Blues. They talked before the lockout and will resume talks at some point, which…
Injury Notes: Kesler, Malkin, Diaz, Gustafsson, Smith, Khabibulin, Duchene, Johnson, WIlson, Wingles and Havlat
Ben Kuzma of the Vancouver Province: Canucks Ryan Kesler played six games with a broken foot. He initially suffered the injury back on Feb. 15th and will now be out for 4 to 6 weeks with a fractured right foot. “He…
Injury Notes: Duchene, Franzen, Smith, Quincey, Filppula, Lehtonen and Brassard
Adrian Dater of the Denver Post: Avalanche's Matt Duchene missed last night's game with a groin injury. The Avs are hoping that it isn't long-term, but no timetable is set. Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press: Johan Franzen,…
Injury notes: Karlsson, Kesler, Hiller, Zubrus, Duchene, Jovanovski, Malhotra, Franzen, Schultz and Gleason
Ottawa Senators via twitter: Senators GM Bryan Murray: "Erik had surgery this morning to repair a 70% cut in his achilles. Recovery time is 3-4 months" ... "Erik Karlsson's season is effectively over." Senators.NHL.com: Audio of Murray talking about Erik Karlsson. Vancouver Canucks…
Gerbe had back surgery … Mezsaros back skating … Schneider, Duchene may be heading home … Letang to SKA
Steve Vesey of WIVB: (hat tip to Dobber for link) Sabres forward Nathan Gerbe had offseason back surgery. He couldn't skate for 6 months, and just got back on the ice in the last couple weeks. "It's been a good time…
Games could be cancelled today … NHL-NHLPA trying to set meeting date … Duchene to Swiss League
Helene Elliott via twitter: Asked someone in the NHL why they hadn't cancelled games beyond Dec. 14th since it Dec. 9th, "no particular reason." Would expect more games to be cancelled today. Dave Molinari via twitter: The NHL and NHLPA…
Players receive $10,000 … Couture leaving Switzerland … Glass off to Slovakia … Granlund returning
Aaron Ward via twitter: Each player will receive a $10,000 stipend from the NHLPA Executive Board. Kevin Kurz via twitter: Logan Couture has left his Switzerland team for "personal reason" according to his agent, John Thornton. Dan Murphy via twitter:…
Player injury and overseas notes
Ryan Rishaug via twitter: Taylor Hall looks to be able to play in the AHL when he's healthy. Still some details to be figured out. Matias Strozyk via twitter: Jiri Hudler suffered an abdominal and groin injury and will be…
Players who are not considering going overseas at this time
The Fourth Period: Gabriel Landeskog has been approached by a couple Norwegian teams. Matt Duchene is not considering playing in Europe unless the entire NHL season is lost. Jan Hejda will wait until November before deciding what to do. Paul…