- Damien Cox of the Toronto Star: The Kovalchuk ruling will make is even more difficult for Brian Burke to trade Tomas Kaberle (unless the Devils and Kovalchuk have another deal close to being done). Sure other teams are interested, but 2 teams in on Kovalchuk, could also be front-runners for Kaberle, the Kings and Devils. Kaberle has made it be known in the past that he’d rather be in the Eastern Conference, Western teams may not offer up as much. The Sharks, Blues, Stars have some interest in Kaberle, as do the Bruins and Lightning. Burke has said he won’t trade Kaberle to the highest bidder, a deal has to get him exactly what he wants. If they don’t trade him, the Leafs could look to signing him to an extension, he’d probably be looking somewhere along Phil Kessell money, $5.4 million.
- Lance Hornby of the Toronto Sun: The Leafs have 5 days to trade Kaberle. The Leafs are looking for a top forward in return, but it’s unknown if teams will re-visit Kovalchuk instead of looking at Kaberle. “The situation as this week goes on is no different than other weeks,” Curran said (Kaberle’s agent). “The player is owned by the Leafs and the only way we’d be aware of a change is if we were provided permission to talk to a team or if maybe the Leafs were interested in talking about a contract extension.”
- A look back at some of our Tomas Kaberle rumors over the past weeks/months.
- Eric Stephens of the OC Register: Anaheim Ducks GM Bob Murray all but confirmed their interest in Paul Kariya during a conference call. “Teemu obviously knows Paul very well so that was a good source to go to. I don’t know if Paul’s decided if he’s going to play again or not. That remains to be seen. We need the answer to that question first.” If they were to offer Kariya a contract, it would be at a lower base salary plus bonuses, something similar to Mike Modano’s.
- Jimmy Murphy via twitter: Marc Savard never waived his ‘no-movement’ clause as reported earlier this summer. Though, if he was asked now “he probably would” as he’s been unhappy with all the trade rumors.
- Kevin Baxter of the Los Angeles Times: The Ducks want Ryan for 5 years, Ryan wants less. “We’re going to try something different,” Murray said of the Ryan talks. “And that’s all I’m going to say.”
- George Malik of MLive: The signing of Ruslan Salei by the Red Wings basically eliminates Andreas Lilja from any of their plans.
- Scott Norton (Norton Sports) via twitter: His client, Bill Sweatt, will sign a BIG contract by the end of August. Sweatt was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs in the Kris Versteeg deal, but he was unable to come to terms with them before the signing deadline, he’s now a UFA.
- Damien Cox of the Toronto Star: Toronto offered Sweatt that maximum amount allowed. Burke blamed Norton for the failed negotiations. “I believe a more experienced agent would have got this done,” he said. The Leafs should be signing Jerry D’Amigo to a 3-year entry level deal shortly.