Hockey Trade Rumors

Time to wake up for Bruins

Garrison Available?

Could Nabokov go to Detroit?

Dallas Stars owner targets a top-six forward & will spend money for one

Staples clock problem may not have been the first

Oilers likely to be sellers at trade deadline, but who is expendable?

If Chris Stewart is really back on the trading block, the Avs should try and get him back

Desperate to Deal

Jeff Carter and the Maple Leafs trade rumour of the day

Bolts notes: Yzerman flexible regarding trades

It’s turned ice cold here (in Boston) – Perhaps a couple of new warm bodies would help

If Rangers general manager Glen Sather is interested in reuniting with Ryan Smyth by acquiring Edmonton’s veteran left wing to bolster the attack, the feeling may well be a reciprocal one, The Post has learned.

A well-placed source told The Post that Smyth, who was drafted sixth overall in 1994 by Sather and then played the first five years under his direction while he was general manager of the Oilers, would give serious consideration to waiving his no-move clause in order to pursue a Cup on Broadway.

When Ducks GM Bob Murray announced a month ago that everyone on his team, excluding veterans Saku Koivu and Teemu Selanne, could be traded, it opened the floodgates for rumours involving his team’s Big Three: forwards Ryan Getzlaf, Bobby Ryan and Corey Perry.

It also lit a blazing fire a under the Ducks, who have recorded a 9-1-1 mark since the comments were made. With his club now 10 points out of a playoff spot, Murray may yet change his mind but speculation remains that the Ducks will be sellers as the NHL trade deadline nears.

What happens between now and the NHL trade deadline will reveal how the Sabres feel about Miller and a few others. He has a 0.63 goals-against average and .976 save percentage in his last three games. The better he plays, the greater his value. The better he plays, the more tempted they are to keep him.

And that’s what makes the coming weeks so intriguing. Do they trade him with the idea they can make significant upgrades in other areas, assuming they can find a trading partner to take his salary? Or do they keep him with the risk he’ll have another season like this one?

Schneider, who turns 26 in six weeks, is a restricted free agent with arbitration rights this summer. True, he might be a No. 1 masquerading as a backup. But he’ll never get paid his full value in arb because of the small sample size (65 games) of his work.

His value in a trade, on the other hand, would seem to be considerably higher, which brings us to our next intrigue.

Four years ago, then Dallas backup Mike Smith was the centrepiece of a trade with Tampa for Brad Richards. Two summers ago, Montreal dealt Jaro Halak, who was coming off a bravura playoff performance, to St. Louis for former first-rounder Lars Eller.

If the Leafs want to keep Grabovski, they’ll have to make him a $5 million per year player. Big number to swallow.

https://twitter.com/#!/DamoSpin/statuses/164524376304259072

Twenty-seven shopping days to the NHL trade deadline.

The next time the Senators face the Bruins at TD Garden, it will be a day after the Feb. 27 deadline.

A lot will have happened by then. For the Senators, GM Bryan Murray will have decided if he’s going to be a buyer. Much will depend on price tags.

The shopping is about to get serious. There’s a belief that Toronto GM Brian Burke could strike as early as this week. If that’s the case, he may be forced to pay a higher price than most, but he badly wants a forward.

Tim Gleason was high on Philadelphia’s list of possible defensemen for purchase but that won’t happen with the Carolina Hurricanes’ re-signing him Monday.

So what now for Philadelphia?

One name to keep an eye on is veteran blueliner Hal Gill in Montreal.

By my estimation, the Predators need a scorer with some playoff grittiness, and perhaps more important, another defenseman who is hard to play against.

If the Carolina Hurricanes are planning to trade potential unrestricted forward Tuomo Ruutu, for example, he seem like they would perfectly fill one of Nashville’s holes.

Of course that would be a short-term patch, and I’m guessing Suter would prefer to see long-term acquisitions. Probably Poile would prefer a long-term addition as well. But if you are Poile, you have to believe that the best way to make sure Suter returns is to make a lengthy playoff run. Acquiring rental players could help you do that.

LEBRUN: I feel for Ducks GM Bob Murray. Where was this level of play two months ago when the season was still salvageable? I just can’t see the Ducks bridging that gap. All this run is doing is ruining Anaheim’s draft pick for June. Unless Anaheim somehow gets back into the race, the Ducks will be sellers come the trade deadline. One name to keep an eye on is veteran blueliner Lubomir Visnovsky.

That is a lot of time, and there are a lot of seats in the dressing room. On Monday, as the team returned from the all-star break, the hottest seat belonged to Mikhail Grabovski, the centre who is set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer.

“You know, I think it’s more about you guys — not me,” he said of speculation he might become a bargaining chip in the trade market. “I think more about hockey than about my future. I know if I play well, I can stay with the same team.”

Unlike the Devils, whom they visit at Prudential Center on Tuesday night for the first of five remaining games this season, the Rangers have a problem unique to N.H.L. teams as the calendar turns to February: a roster logjam.

This is especially the case at forward, where John Tortorella’s club has 14 players on the roster. Coaches usually dress 12 forwards and 6 defensemen in each game; sometimes they play 11 and 7.

Erik Christensen has returned to the Rangers’ roster after a conditioning stint with the minor league affiliate in Connecticut. Christensen, who has been unable to claim a spot on Tortorella’s top three lines but is valuable as a substitute and for his prowess in the shootout, has not played for the Rangers since Dec. 17.

Raymond is going to hear his name mentioned a lot because he’s probably the easiest forward to move.

A team may see in him a similar case to Michael Grabner’s, who bloomed when given a different role than the one he had with the top-heavy Canucks.

What the Canucks need is someone like Travis Moen.

*Why should anybody be surprised that Dallas Stars captain Brenden Morrow might be on the market? There are lots of miles on that chassis from all the punishment he’s taken and dished out, and he just turned 33. He’s still an effective player, but this is the classic case of the Stars checking the level of teams’ interest before Morrow hits the free-agent marketplace on July 1, 2013.

Here is one to smoke on.Please do not inhale .From CBJ,Nash & Huselius,From TORGrabovski, Schenn, Kadri and Komisarek.1st time Nash involved

https://twitter.com/#!/RealBillWatters/statuses/164000841504800769

It’s crunch time for Maple Leafs

Get prepared for the final 10 weeks of the NHL season where the math will be computed daily, if not more frequently.

As it stands today, the Maple Leafs are on the outside of the Eastern Conference playoff picture — but at ninth, only just — with their post all-star break action due to resume Tuesday in Pittsburgh.

So far, the season has been mostly mission accomplished for the Leafs, who have 55 points and are in decent position to challenge for a long-awaited playoff excursion. The popular math suggests the Leafs will need between 37 and 40 points over their remaining 33 games and that projection will be influenced somewhat based on the performance of others in the tight East.

OFF THE GLASS

Should the Canadiens go shopping at the deadline — and they haven’t decided whether they’re a buyer or seller — then GM Pierre Gauthier is going to be looking for a big centre. The issue: There aren’t many on the market. There was talk of the Habs having interest in Buffalo’s Derek Roy, but at 5-foot-8 and 190 pounds, he’s not an answer to the problems … Since it looks like Nashville Ds Ryan Suter and Shea Weber aren’t going to be moved at the deadline, the Flyers are going to have to turn their attention elsewhere to get a replacement for the injured Chris Pronger. GM Paul Holmgren will certainly take any one of the three Carolina D-men being shopped: Tim Gleason, Bryan Allen or Jaroslav Spacek.

OTTAWA — From conversations I’ve had with teams over the weekend, there’s a chance the trade season will get going for real after the All-Star break.

One name that could move as early as this week is Tuomo Ruutu, the Carolina Hurricanes forward who is slated to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1. The Canes have taken lots of calls on him and may finally be ready to move him.

WHICH PLAYERS WILL BE ON THE MOVE AT THE TRADE DEADLINE?

The Edmonton Oilers will be fielding a ton of calls heading into next months deadline. They have a little bit of everything to offer. Ales Hemsky is a top 6 forward, Andy Sutton is a depth defenseman and Nikolai Khabibulin is a veteran goaltender with a Cup on his resume. Add in the perception that a player like Sam Gagner could be had for the right price, and you’ve got a recipe for Steve Tambellini to be quite busy.