Hockey Trade Rumors

The latest round up of hockey trade rumors. Some of the latest rumors involve Roberto Luongo, Brendan Witt, Jason Allison, Ed Jovanovski, Dan Cloutier and Doug Weight.Around the Western Conference rumors are rampant that the Vancouver Canucks and the Colorado Avalanche are very interested in the services of Florida Panthers star goalie Roberto Luongo. What is not clear however is if these rumors are legitimate or if Loungo’s agent is pushing for a deal to a better team in order to make sure that he signs a big contract for next season. Presently it is evident that we all know that he is a all star goalie but is not able to show off his talent on a poor team.

The rumor with the Canucks is that they are willing to package a deal of Dan Cloutier Ed Jovanovski and a prospect in exchange for Jay Bowmeester and Luongo. Now before people get all heated to say that this is not enough for the Panthers players there should be an understanding that Luongo is set to become a Unrestricted free agent at the end of this season meaning that any team can sign him to a contract without compensation. Apparently he becomes an UFA because he went to arbitration last season and signed a one year deal based on that. It would be nieve not to mention that Jovo Cop is also set to be a UFA at the conclusion of this season. The difference being that Florida would have a better chance or resigning Jovo than they would Luongo who is said to be frustrated in Florida because of the loosing.

In addition, the Avalance are also showing interest in Luongo. They are apparently offering a package of David Aebischer and a talented young defenseman. What gives credibility to this rumor is that the Avalanche are notorious for making big deals happen and that their General Manager is not afraid to make deals such as this happen. If Luongo is traded the Avs would love to steal him away from the Canucks.

Another rumor making the rounds is that the Leafs are trying to rid themselves of Jason Allison. Although he was signed by the Leafs as a unrestricted free agent just this off-season it appears that he is not fitting in quite right with the Leafs chemistry. Rumors have Allison being traded to the Sharks or to the Capitals. One of the players who is said to be available on the Sharks team is Brad Stuart but it would obviously take more than just Allison to land this stable defenseman.

Another player on the Sharks who is said to be on the market is Evgeni Nabokov. Nabokov has been inconsistent at best this season and needs to string together a hot streak in order for the Sharks to get full value in return. Atlanta may be a good fit because of their goalie problems in the early season.

Doug Weight is playing on borrowed time in St. Louis. When he signed his big deal with the Blues he signed on to play for a winning team, with the likes of Chris Pronger and Al McInnis. How times have changed and the Blues are now one of the worst teams in the NHL (Sounds odd to say that). Because of his big contract Weight will be hard to move. Expect to see a Fedorov type salary dump. One of the teams that may be interested in Weight is the New York Rangers who are also said to be interested in the Ducks Petr Sykora

Finally, speaking of the Ducks don’t be surprised if Brian Burke makes an effort to deal Sandis Ozolinsh for a more rugged type player. Don’t forget that Burke already has one puck moving offensive defenseman in Scott Niedermayer. A deal with Washington for Witt may be a realistic possibility.