Hockey Trade Rumors

The Minnesota Wild didn’t play the trap and lit the lamp 6 times on route to recording their first win of the preseason against the Edmonton Oilers last night.

In a night where the Habs put out a bunch of young players the Leafs were supose to put on a show in Newfoundland. Well that was not the case as Toronto was shut out and out played.

The NY Post reported today that the Canadiens, who are now lacking a #1 centre, have reported interest in Petr Nedved. The Rangers are reported to have interest in a few Habs, including: Mike Komisarek (D), Sheldon Souray (D), Chad Kilger (C), Craig Darby (C), and goalie Jeff Hackett. Who knows if this deal will happen, but with Messier & Lindros on the top 2 lines and Mike York as your top checking centre, it looks as if Nedved would be the odd man out.

There has been a long standing tradition in Edmonton that a team consisting of would-be rookies plays a game against the University of Alberta team. Sunday night’s matchup was an embarrassing loss for the Oiler wannabes as they were pounded by the UofA Golden Bears 7-2.

It seems like a natural fit. The Oilers have too many forwards, too many who fill the same role. Grit and checking is their game. The Oil have too few gifted passers or forwards with the much needed offensive flare. In the Sens, what has been painfully obvious is that the team Europe approach doesn’t work. The right mix of brute force and talent is needed. The Sens honestly don’t have the needed grit to make it out of the first round in a gritty eastern conference.

Nedved re-signed with the Rangers, terms were undisclosed. ESPN reported this news, without the length of the contract.

It’s for the first time in four seasons that the Rangers now have a real team, a real team with depth on the scoring lines. Last season, the Rangers were ranked 4th in the Eastern Conference in GF (7th in the league), with players like Nedved, Fleury, and Dvorak scoring 30+ goals each, and with, Messier, Hlavac, and Leetch scoring 20+ goals each. This season though, the scoring could be higher.

Training camp has only been on for a few days but already some noteworthy stories have arisen. The nearby suburb of Sherwood Park is playing host to the opening week of Oiler camp as the general public has free admission to the sessions.

Now that the majority of the major trades are completed and training camp is starting, most teams are welcoming the new players, remembering the ones that were traded. Then it’s back to practices, getting lines put together, seeing who had the best chemistry together, and the list goes on and
on.

So I got a lot of positive feedback about my How the West Will Be Won article, so why don’t I show you guys the East. I got a lot of garbage comments about the Eastern Conference, because I said that it was too easy to predict. I’ll prove to you once again that the east is easy!

Felix Potvin and the Los Angeles Kings agree terms to a one year deal contract, aincluding a second year option, other information is disclosed. Potvin and the Kings made the perfect move leaving the question, “Where will Stephane Fiset go?”

Canada’s “Orientation Camp” which ended last Friday provided on lookers a glimpse of what could be the final team this February. Three seperate reports from three seperate newspapers basically agree on what the final roster will look like, based soley on last week’s camp.

With the recent outbreak of goaltending needs throughout the NHL it appears that some teams that are deep in that position may be willing to part with some of that talent for the right price.