Hockey Trade Rumors

Oh sure, now that the Vancouver Canucks supposedly have no use for Roberto Luongo, there is talk the Toronto Maple Leafs should try and trade for the him in the summer.

Nice try, but no thanks.

Why would the Leafs want a goaltender who was pulled after losing the first two games in the opening round this year? Why would the Leafs want a goaltender who lost Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final? Why would the Leafs want a goaltender who turns to mush whenever he sees a Chicago Blackhawks jersey?

Wait a second; it is either Luongo or another year of James Reimer and Jonas Gustavsson? Well, then, send him over.

Nick Lidstrom is going to do what he always does, which is take some time off, and when it comes time in late June or early July when it’s time to get back in the gym and have to start working again, that’s when he’ll determine whether or not he’s fit to play for next year. It comes down to how much work he’s willing to do in the off-season.

He’s capable of playing. The level he played at this year, he’s still a top five or six defenceman in the NHL. For that reason, nobody thinks he’s going anywhere, but it’s possible.

The axe has fallen on Phoenix Coyotes forward Raffi Torres.

Torres was suspended 25 games for launching himself to deliver a late hit that sent Chicago’s Marian Hossa during Game 3 of the Coyotes-Blackhawks series on Tuesday night.

Should the 25 games not be served by the conclusion of the 2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the remaining games of the suspension will carry over into next regular season. Torres will also be prohibited from playing in any preseason games until he has served this 25-game suspension (playoff and regular-season games).

http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=393821

We cannot say this for sure, but ever since Edmonton Oilers general manager Steve Tambellini said that the No. 1 pick he received in Tuesday’s draft lottery could be available for trade, you have to believe that the first call he received was from Maple Leafs general manager Brian Burke … or KHL president Alexander Medvedev.

The KHL could use Nail Yakupov — considered the top prospect — and they might get him if the NHL fails to negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement with the players before the start of next season. But the Leafs, who have the fifth-overall selection, truly need this No. 1 pick. Not so much because it will help the team, but because it will help erase the bad feeling in everyone’s mouth after a lousy second half to the season.

There are still many questions surrounding the Vancouver Canucks even though they managed to stay alive in the NHL playoffs save one – is Roberto Luongo still their main man?

Luongo’s up-and-down career with the Canucks is almost certainly in its final weeks now that the Canucks’ organization, from general manager Mike Gillis and head coach Alain Vigneault on down, turned to emerging goaltender Cory Schneider for the last two games with the team’s season on the line. Schneider served notice Thursday he is ready for the No. 1 job with 43 saves in a 3-1 win, the Canucks’ first against three losses in their playoff series against the Los Angeles Kings.

When practice ended Tuesday, Roberto Luongo and Cory Schneider met near centre ice. They kneeled together, and enjoyed each other, talking and laughing.

In the eye of the storm, it was a long, loose, pressure-free moment.

But was it their last?

Nail Railovich Yakupov answered the phone Sunday night in Nizhnekamsk, Tatarstan, Russia, and said it was true. That’s exactly what he told Russian hockey legend Igor Larionov — who also happens to be his agent.

When the bingo balls fell and the 29th-place Edmonton Oilers won last week’s NHL Draft Lottery to pick first in the draft for the third consecutive year, Yakupov said he was ecstatic.

“I definitely want to go to Edmonton and play for the Oilers, for sure,” said the 18-year-old that Central Scouting and every other scouting service and credible draft projector has rated No. 1 all year.

When it comes to their offseason plans, the Blue Jackets prefer reshape to rebuild. In this case, they’re not splitting hairs.

Rather than dismantle the roster and start on a three- or four-year rebuilding plan, indications are that the Blue Jackets will make moves this summer with the hope of being competitive — dare we mention the Stanley Cup playoffs? — next season.

As the debate heats up over whether Jarome Iginla should be traded to accelerate a rebuild, one of the biggest questions that needs to be asked is simple: What is the captain’s worth?

The Calgary Flames owners have a pretty good idea what he means to the club financially and otherwise.

But how much is he worth on the NHL’s open market?

The Jackets, of course, are also looking for a No. goalie and will use a trade of forward Rick Nash, the No. 2 overall pick and the Los Angeles Kings’ pick (in the Jeff Carter deal) to get one … It wouldn’t surprise me if the Oilers drafted Oil Kings forward Henrik Samuelsson’s in the second round.

Linus Omark, the offensively gifted winger from Sweden, has been a subject of trade rumours for some time now. He couldn’t buy his way into the lineup towards the end of the season, as head coach Tom Renney leaned on players like Darcy Hordichuk and Chris Vande Velde instead, at times even playing centre Eric Belanger on the wing rather than bringing Omark back into the lineup. He’s also at times made comments that have rubbed Oilers fans the wrong way, and seems to have less hesitation than most professional hockey players about speaking his mind on the record.

In that light, today’s tweet in response to a fan hoping he proved the Oilers’ limited use of him wrong by playing well at the World Championships, is perhaps unsurprising:

Being busy in the National Hockey League’s free-agent market means different things to different teams.

There’s the whole-hog approach, the million-dollar Band-Aids.

For the Calgary Flames, though, it often means pecking away.

Last summer, for instance, they corralled a number of small names. Perhaps no fireworks went off when Derek Smith agreed to a one-year deal. But, by Christmas, the defender had proved to be a capable NHLer. The cost? His relatively modest salary of $700,000. He’s since been extended.

The fans have spoken and so has Jarome Iginla, making it clear two-thirds of the parties involved are at least starting to come to grips with the possibility of a trade.

We’ll hear from the club at noon Tuesday when GM Jay Feaster treads carefully around an issue that has dominated the Calgary sports scene the last week like never before.