Monthly Archives: February 2013
Could the Senators be interested in Perry?
THIS N’ THAT
There was plenty of speculation in Ottawa last week when two scouts from the Anaheim Ducks showed up at the Senators-Buffalo Sabres game. No, the Senators haven’t had any talks with the Ducks about RW Corey Perry, but yes GM Bryan Murray did draft him while with Anaheim. Sources say the Ducks are going to try to sign Perry, but if they can’t GM Bob Murray needs to be in a position to know what he wants from interested teams. The Senators were a front-runner for C Rick Nash before he went to the New York Rangers from Columbus last summer and have the prospects to make a deal for Perry. “The Ducks are just trying to identify what everybody has,” said a league executive. “They are going to try to sign him.” That hasn’t stopped talk Perry will land with an Eastern team … The Dallas Stars haven’t been happy with the play of D Alex Goligoski. You remember him, he’s the guy GM Joe Nieuwendyk acquired from the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for the high-scoring James Neal and D Matt Niskanen. The deal hasn’t worked out as planned and Goligoski was even a healthy scratch recently. Not good.
http://www.ottawasun.com/2013/02/15/nhl-gms-facing-heat-early-in-season
Pittsburgh Scouting Minnesota
Rangers unlikely to make offer to O’Reilly
The Rangers have checked in on Ryan O’Reilly, but are very unlikely to pursue a deal for Colorado’s unsigned restricted free-agent center, The Post has learned.
It is not the yet undetermined cost in assets that the Blueshirts — whose three-game winning streak ended with Thursday night’s 4-3 shootout loss to the Islanders at the Garden — would have to send to the Avalanche in order to acquire the 22-year-old pivot, but rather O’Reilly’s asking price for a contract that is discouraging a pursuit by general manager Glen Sather.
Will Kessler return to the lineup tonight?
AV: Kesler has been medically cleared to play.
— Vancouver Canucks (@VanCanucks) February 14, 2013
Leafs would love to get O’Reilly
@darrendreger – “Toronto Maple Leafs would love to get their hands on Ryan O’Reilly”
— TSN Radio (@TSN1050Radio) February 14, 2013
Ottawa Senators looking for help
Bryan Murray is working the phones.
The Senators GM isn’t going to find another Erik Karlsson on the NHL’s trade market, but he’s hopeful he’ll be able to find a reasonably priced facsimile that’s going to help the club get to the playoffs this spring.
Battered and beaten up after Karlsson was added to the list of growing injuries, Murray wasn’t expecting any sympathy cards from his rival GM’s at the club’s latest loss, but he is going to investigate the market to see what’s available.
“As I said when Jason (Spezza) went down, I don’t know that any other manager is going to do any favours for me,” said Murray Thursday. “I don’t think that … I’ve made some calls on different players over the last week or two and there’s been nobody very willing to give me a very good player for a player that’s not in the league yet.
Would Ryan Whitney be a fit in Ottawa with Karlsson out?
Has Edmonton Oilers’ GM Steve Tambellini called Murray on Ryan Whitney?
Probably.
We don’t know if Whitney will be a healthy scratch for a fourth time in the last seven games when Colorado Avalanche are here Saturday night, but if Whitney is in the lineup, how long will he be in the lineup? Right now he’s in rotation mode with Corey Potter and Mark Fistric. He has to win back the trust of the coaching staff or he’ll get traded.
Rangers bench Richards in shootout loss to Isles
Of all the concerns about the Rangers, among them their inability to find the defensive lockdown game that identified the club last season, the most disturbing is the diminished play of Brad Richards, who had such a difficult time last night he was benched for all but one shift in the third period of the Blueshirts’ 4-3 shootout loss at the Garden to the Islanders.
Winnipeg Jets in need of a heart transplant
Is it too soon to ask some cold, hard questions about the makeup of the Winnipeg Jets — from top to bottom?
In the aftermath of Tuesday’s drive-you-around-the-bend loss to Philadelphia, I don’t think it is.
Neither did captain Andrew Ladd, although he was careful how he worded it.
You didn’t have to read far between the lines, though, to see what Ladd was getting at. It’s a tough job to call out your teammates, but eventually somebody’s gotta do it. Usually, it’s the captain.
http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Hockey/NHL/Winnipeg/2013/02/13/20577391.html
Holmgren doesn’t see Flyers making major move
The trade rumors involving the Flyers have been blowing in the wind for a while now.
Bob Dylan notwithstanding.
Despite the Flyers’ terribly inconsistent play and the very tightness of this lockout-shortened season, general manager Paul Holmgren says he is not going to pull the trigger on a major deal.
Jack Todd: Habs need to get bigger, tougher
One of the oddities of the league is how certain organizations can face the same endemic problems for decades without finding a solution. The Canadiens have been too small since John LeClair was traded away and Mario Tremblay put the Smurf Line together in Hartford, with Saku Koivu between Oleg Petrov and Valeri Bure. The Flyers have spent two decades trying to find a fix for a big, lumbering defence and porous goaltending. Neither team has found a real solution.
When the Canadiens made their remarkable playoff run in 2010, they did so thanks to 1) Jaro Halak; 2) industrial-strength shot-blocking from Josh Gorges, Hal Gill and Jaroslav Spacek; and 3) Michael Cammalleri’s timely scoring.
Ryan O’Reilly’s days as an Av look to be over
Darren Dreger of TSN reported tonight the Avs are asking for a “roster player and a top prospect.” That sounds about right. The Avs will not confirm that’s what they are asking for. They won’t confirm much of anything right now. They have gone into bunker mentality mode on the Factor.
There is a lot more to this story, but until O’Reilly is traded, I’m kind of bound by an agreement not to report anything until then. Sorry. Really, I’m amazed this all happened. A 22-year-old heart-and-soul, two-way center, an absolute rink rat who loved Denver and loved the Avalanche wound up being the final unsigned big-name restricted free agent in the NHL. Really, it’s unbelievable.