Hockey Trade Rumors

The Chicago-Sun Times is reporting that the Black Hawks may be looking to move out one of their three goalies. Lalime has played very well of late while sitting in for the injured Khabibulin however due in part to Lalime’s good play the possibility has arisen that the Hawks could look to deal the Bulin wall.

According to the Detroit Free Press, the Wings are actively stepping up their pursuit of players to add before the trade deadline. With 5 million dollars of cap room, the Wings are in an envious cap space position, allowing them to make a number of deals if so desired.

I think it is about time that the Leafs become ‘sellers’ and not ‘buyers’. The Leafs have a lot of your talent such as Wellwood, Steen, Stajan, Colliacavo, Harrison, Pogge…etc. I think that the Leafs should sell off Sundin to a contender and promise to have him back in the off season, get rid of Tucker (although I hate to say that), McCabe for a high prospect and begone with the likes of Antropov, Gill, Kubina (unlikely with his salary, but one can dream), Bell who is already involved in current rumors and so on.
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According to the Fan 990 and Eklund’s hockeybuzz.com, the Habs and Sharks are in serious trade talks. Even though these arent very reliable sources, one has to wonder if a trade here would make sense. i have heard a couple different proposals.

The Hockey News’ Adam Proteau is reporting a possible trade involving the Panthers and Sabres that would see Biron going to the Panthers in exchange for Belfour and Roberts.

The Ottawa Sun is full of interesting trade speculation and talk this morning. First off they suggest that Bill Guerin may not want to go to either Vancouver or Ottawa and suggest possible teams that may be lining up for his services. It is also suggested in this article that the Montreal Canadiens may be shipping for a goalie and one of the names suggested is Robert Esche of the Flyers.

The PalmBeachPost.com reports that Gary Roberts is wanting to stay with the Panthers. If he is traded his first choices are the Senators or the Maple Leafs because of a family connection in Ontario. Personally, I don’t see how anyone could fault Roberts on wanting to stay close to his daughter as he has most of his time on the road.

STLToday.com proves an in-depth article on the Blues leading goal scorer, Bill Guerin. It is reported that the Blues are looking to deal him before the deadline in order to “capitalize on his trade value.” The main teams that appear to have interest in Guerin include San Jose, Anaheim and Detroit.

The New York Post (Larry Brooks) is reporting that the Rangers are looking at Eric Brewer of the St. Louis Blues. Looking long term, UFA season in the summer, Brooks also suggests that the Flyers will be looking to sign a big name goalie and they the Flyers have their sights set on either Martin Biron or J.S. Giguere.

There seems to be a tangible feeling that things are about to explode. Everyone was waiting for Forsberg to move to guage market price, and now that the Forsberg benchmark has been set, the dominoes will start to fall.

Part three of three in taking a look at some of the trade buzz, which players are available, and what you should do in your hockey pool to prepare for these moves that may or may not happen.

The Mercury News raises some interesting speculation regarding Joe Sakic. If the Avalanche continue to slip further and further behind the 8th place team and feel that they are not going to be able to make the playoffs, do they have to consider trading Sakic who will become unrestricted at the seasons end.

A hot commodity for teams right now shopping for power play help is defensemen Sami Salo. The Finnish McInnis is set to become unrestricted at the end of the year and because of his contract status many teams are contacting the Canucks to see if he is available. It should be noted that the Canucks are top in their division right now and Salo is a huge part of the Canucks success. I would have to think that Nonis is not willing to part with Salo via trade and is more likely to hang onto to him and take his chances trying to sign him to a contact extension.