Author Archives: Trade Man
Laviolette not on hot seat, Flyers official says
As their reeling team tried to regroup from its latest clunker, Flyers coach Peter Laviolette and general manager Paul Holmgren were given a vote of confidence Sunday.
Asked if the Flyers’ dismal start had put the jobs of the head coach and the general manager in jeopardy, Peter Luukko didn’t hesitate.
More Ryan O’Reilly Talk
Avs do not want another center for O’Reilly. Want an offensive D-man or proven forward/plus pick
— adater (@adater) February 17, 2013
Will the New York Islanders trade Mark Streit or Lubomir Visnovsky?
Just two points out of the playoffs, and with a respectable minus-2 goal differential, the New York Islanders are nevertheless seen as one of the league’s most logical sellers on deadline day. They are a young team, a team with a tight budget, and a team with a bunch of pending unrestricted free agents, so that’s understandable. Two players in particular – defencemen Mark Streit and Lubomir Visnovsky – have been the subject of frequent trade rumours.
What are the Islanders plans for that duo? Newsday’s Arthur Staple provided some illumination on Saturday night.
Miller gets hot after team goes cold at finish
Ryan Miller’s postgame meeting with reporters lasted just 76 seconds Sunday. He was willing to say more but the media didn’t need to fire any more questions his way because it was plainly clear how the Sabres’ goaltender felt after the 4-3 loss to Pittsburgh.
Miller dropped three expletives during the chat and the frustration was pretty understandable as the Sabres maintained their dubious streak of not winning back-to-back home games this season.
Martin Brodeur doesn’t rule out 2014 Olympics appearance for Canada
If Team Canada comes calling, Martin Brodeur will listen. Despite the fact he’ll be 41 years-old-during the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia, Brodeur said today that he’s interested if he’s welcome there.
Initially, after playing in his fourth Olympics for Canada in 2010, Brodeur assumed it would be his last one. But with the Olympics only a year away and with him still playing, there is a renewed interest on his part.
Brodeur said that “a lot of people” have been talking to him about the topic lately.
Despite Colorado Avalanche forward Ryan O’Reilly being available, there’s a good reason the Dallas Stars probably don’t have a chance to acquire him
O’Reilly is apparently available from the Avs, he’s a great young player — would the Stars be interested and what do you think it would take to do that deal?
I fear he falls into the Kyle Turris, Cody Hodgson category. The Stars had interest in Turris when he was a holdout in Phoenix and on Hodgson when he was available in Vancouver. However, both GMs were intent to send their players to the East so they would not be haunted so closely. The guess is unless a Western team overpays, then O’Reilly will end up in the East. But, again, I am not a doctor or a GM, and that is just a guess.
The Top Five Trade Targets
The NHL trade market is going to shake loose sooner or later depending on when teams fall out of the race. Slow starts are going to turn into reality and it won’t be long before general manager’s decide to send players packing. We saw a couple of small deals with Winnipeg sending Alexei Ponikarovsky to New Jersey and Eric Tangradi going to the Jets from the Penguins last week. We’re going to see some bigger ones before the April 3 deadline.
Here’s five top targets:
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.
