Monthly Archives: September 2011
Matthew Lombardi’s year-long wait is nearly at an end.
The centre didn’t want to jinx himself, but there seem little doubt this weekend he will get into his first game since last October. It has taken that long to clear the cobwebs from a severe concussion and then get back into proper playing shape.
The Maple Leafs will make a handful of final cuts before their regular-season opener on Oct. 6. Defenceman Mike Komisarek won’t be among them. There had been talk through last season and during the summer that the Leafs should bury the contract of Komisarek in the minors.
With the NHL season opener fast approaching, Drew Doughty is still without a contract with the LA Kings and it looks like a long holdout is possible. The Kings have reportedly received offer sheets from other clubs, and if the two sides can’t reach an agreement soon, his days as a King will be over.
The latest trade rumor on Bleacher Report has the young defenseman heading to Edmonton in a deal with the Oilers. Edmonton is rumored to have put an offer sheet together and the Kings are mulling over their options.
Right now, the Flyers have about $175,000 in cap space.
Among the moves, Holmgren kind of smiled in saying there are ways to do this and the hot rumor of the day was trading Scott Hartnell’s $4.2 million cap hit back to Nashville.
A club source said that the likelihood of a trade seemed “pretty good.”
NHL News and Rumors from ESPN
Bryan McCabe remains unsigned and the stars would really have to align for him to pack his bags at this point.
That’s not to say it’s not going to happen, but he’s settled in South Florida with his family and the kids are in school, so it would need to be a really tempting offer.
A source told ESPN.com that a Western Conference team showed interest within the past week, but it wasn’t something that interested the defenseman. He’s made plenty of money in his career and has nothing to prove to anyone. If he does sign with a club this season, it has to be a super fit for him.
He can count to six and to nine just as quickly as the other defenceman still in Leafs training camp. So there’s no need to beat Keith Aulie over the head with an Easton to remind him he’s in for a battle to retain his starting job on the Leafs blueline. With nine defenceman still in camp, as few as four or five of the starting six jobs are anywhere near settled. Who gets a spot opening night is one of the big stories to be played out over the next 10 days.
Kings won't blink in salary stalemate with Doughty
Tim Leiweke, president of the Kings’ parent company, AEG, said Monday he supports General Manager Dean Lombardi’s stance in negotiations with unsigned defenseman Drew Doughty and emphasized Lombardi’s offer of an average $6.8 million annually is based solely on allocating dollars to improve the team and maintaining a strong nucleus that will allow the Kings to compete for the Stanley Cup for years to come.
Glen Sather steals show at Winter Classic press conference with Stanley Cup 
We all already knew that the Rangers and Flyers were going to play outdoors in Philadelphia in January, which made this afternoon’s press conference at Citizens Bank Park a little bit anticlimactic. Until, that is, Glen Sather spoke.
VETERANS IN TROUBLE
Tyler Bozak: Having a great camp, but suddenly his name is coming up in trade rumours. If the Leafs are interested in Phoenix hold-out Kyle Turris, or if Matthew Lombardi outplays him, things could get very uncomfortable for the third-year leaf.
Mike Komisarek: Having a good camp, looking very confident. He’s an alternate captain and a loyal soldier and GM Brian Burke loves him. Much has been made recently of his limited no-trade clause – Komisarek has a list of about 10 teams he’d accept a trade to. And he’s from Long Island, and the Islanders need a defenceman …. so connect the dots.
It was just the Rangers’ first exhibition game, only the first time Brad Richards and Marian Gaborik played together against what coach John Tortorella likes to call, “different colors,” but there’s little doubt that the elite dispatcher and world-class sniper are going to combine to present a world of trouble for opponents.
Richards will carry the puck. Gaborik will look for seams and to jump into openings. The left wing on the first line — a true blue first line the club has lacked since Tortorella arrived two-thirds of the way through 2008-09 — will be a complementary piece, whether it’s Wojtek Wolski or a forward to named later.
Last year, the Edmonton Oilers’ rallying cry was “where’s the face-off man?” but this year it’s “where’s the puck-mover?”
Without Ryan Whitney, it’s painfully obvious that the Oilers No. 1 need is somebody to get the puck to Taylor Hall and Co for the quick breakout. There are too many Oiler defenceman into the double-clutch mode, not willing to risk a headman pass even if the worst thing that happens is an icing and a face-off in their end.
Should Sharks give Turco a call?
Veteran goaltender Marty Turco still wants to play in the NHL. The Sharks just lost one of their netminders, Antero Niittymaki, until the middle of December at the earliest.
See where we’re going with this?
Turco, who was signed by the Blackhawks in the summer of 2010 in order to help defend their Stanley Cup title, was not brought back by Chicago at the conclusion of his one-year deal last year. After rookie Corey Crawford took the starting role from Turco last season, the Blackhawks decided not to resign the 36-year-old.
Predators in position to add more players
The best thing about the preseason in the NHL is that there’s no wasting time before playing games.
Camp, happily short to begin with, started for the Nashville Predators with their first on-ice session last Saturday and then two days later they were suiting up for a preseason doubleheader in Florida.
All of which says that teams tend to know fairly quickly which players will make the opening night roster and which won’t and, significantly, where their holes are.