Hockey Trade Rumors

And now for something completely different… Compliance buyouts can begin just after midnight on Monday,June 16th.

— John Shannon (@JSportsnet) June 14, 2014

With just over a week of the NHL 2014 regular season remaining, the race to make the play-offs is set to go down to the wire in the Eastern and Western Conferences. Although ten teams have already clinched their place in the Play-Offs, several others stand a realistic chance of joining them to retain the dream of lifting the infamous Stanley Cup trophy. Many may look back to the business conducted before the trade deadline of March 5th and reflect on whether their acquisitions have provided the required impact, or had a detrimental effect on their chances of making the Play-Offs or winning their respective division. The latter may be felt by the Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers, with both teams eliminated from Play-Off contention in what can only be considered as hugely disappointing seasons for both teams. Trading can make all the difference between success and failure, with sportsinteraction.com allowing NHL fans to predict who will make a name for themselves with their new team and fire them into the Play-Offs.

It’s not always easy retiring from pro sports. For every 33-year old millionaire with a mansion, a yacht, a TV contract and his whole life ahead of him, there are 10 washed-up, broke alcoholics with chronic knee pain and no way of easing back into the working life that normal folks experience every day. Greg Mueller’s story is one of the positive ones.

Is it possible Hockey Hall of Famer Glen Sather, 70, may be thinking of retiring as a general manager if the New York Rangers make the playoffs this season? I’ve heard that. There was no response to a recent inquiry by me from Sather. If true, the Oilers can get his banner raised next season. The Oilers have put off a ceremony because Sather, the first member of the Oilers’ organization to make the HHOF in 1997, has been a GM with another team.

McKenzie: The NHL party line hasn’t changed. There are no formal plans for expansion but if they expand and everyone assumes at some point, they’re going to, the common knowledge is that Seattle is the primary target in the Pacific Northwest.

In the first Coach’s Corner since the hockey broadcasting landscape was forever changed earlier this week, Don Cherry pleaded his case to the Canadian public — and his potential future bosses.

Is the proposed GTA Centre finally going to get the private funding some local politicians have been seeking?

For the past two years or so, there have been concerns in the Markham area that the NHL-sized arena would suck up too much public money in order to become a reality.

Some of the news making the rounds this Friday include the new deal between the NHL and Rogers and the impact that it will have down the road, the future of several discouraged Capital players, what to make of the NHL and Players Concussion case and how the infusion of Ilya Bryzgalov into the Oilers organization pays immediate dividends.