Dallas News reports that the Dallas Stars' 20 year old rookie, Jamie Benn, will possibly be heading down to the AHL to give their affiliate a boost in their playoff run. This of course will only happen if the Dallas Stars don't make a playoff run. Jamie Benn netted 16 goals, and 31 points in his rookie season.
Source: Dallas News
With Steven Stamkos due for a massive raise in salary next season, the question is, how will GM Brian Lawton manage his salary cap budget? The Lightning currently sit at $51 million, including salary bonuses. This season, the club will need to re-sign Steve Downie (who is having a career best season), and the newly acquired Ted Purcell. Other names include Paul Ranger, Kurtis Foster, and goaltender Antero Niittymaki. The club will most likely be letting a couple of these names walk in the off-season, or they will make some cap space via trade. New owner Jeff Vinik reported that the club will not look at trading franchise forward, Vincent Lecavalier.
Source: TBO.com foxnews.com
Dallas News reports that GM Joe Nieuwendyk did in fact receive multiple offers for the veteran, and even asked him to waive his no trade clause, but Mike Modano refused to do so. Nieuwendyk didn't want to reveal the teams who made offers, but did confirm that the Washington Capitals were one of the teams.
"Honestly, I just couldn't do it," Modano said. "We were in pretty good shape in the playoff race, and there's no guarantee with a new team. I've been with this team my whole life, and I want to stay with this team."
The 39 year old will be a unrestricted free agent this upcoming summer, and isn't sure if this will be his last season with the Dallas Stars.
Source: Dallas News
Adam Proteau of The Hockey News reports that a lack of a first round draft pick in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft and a very shallow UFA pool this summer may result in the Toronto Maple Leafs having to look at unrestricted free agents at the college level again in order to improve their team.
Proteau names four players who could potentially fit the bill: Stephane Da Costa, Bobby Butler, Sebastian Stalberg (brother of Viktor Stalberg), and Brayden Irwin.
SOURCE: MetroNews.ca
The Quebecois are looking to add in another NHL team to their province.
“For 15 years, we’ve been talking about the return of a professional (hockey) team, but no enterprise has been as methodical during the process (as Quebecor),” said Andre Richelieu, who is conducting a survey for the possible acquisition of an NHL team.
Quebec City looks like a strong competitor in purchasing an American team, and relocating them to Canadian soil.
Rumors say that the Atlanta Thrashers are possibly being sold. [SOURCE]
Tom Reed of the Columbus Dispatch Post reports that this summer could bring some changes to the Columbus Blue Jackets lineup. According to Reed, GM Scott Howson wants to find more offense for the club and hinted that he may look to provide it by improving the defense which is "top heavy with defending defensemen favored by former coach Ken Hitchcock."
Reed notes that seven defensemen are under contract for next season, meaning that if Howson is to change the look of the defense core he will have to move some bodies out. The dmen most likely to move are Fedor Tyutin, Rostislav Klesla, and Jan Hejda as they would attract the most interest from other teams.
Howson says that he still believes in his core of forwards, including Derick Brassard and Jakub Voracek.
The Blue Jackets may also find a boost in offense up front if Nikita Filatov shows up to training camp next September. There are still no guarantees that Filatov will be there, although in recent conversations that School Your Pool has had with Columbus Dispatch Post reporter Aaron Portzline, it sounds almost certain that Filatov will return to the NHL next season.
Of course, it is possible that Filatov could be one of the Blue Jackets bargaining chips in trade talks in their quest to improve the team. (SOURCE)
I'm still not sure where the rumours of the Atlanta Thrashers moving to Winnipeg started, but Winnipeg mayor Sam Katz is doing his part to deny them.
“We know there are many Winnipeggers and hockey fans who would love to
see the NHL come back to our great city, and maybe in time that will
happen. But I can tell you that from the sources I have, these rumours
have absolutely no foundation and no truth to them,” said Katz. (SOURCE)
While the Toronto Maple Leafs were unable to find a trade partner for defenseman Tomas Kaberle at the trade deadline, there remains a possibility that GM Brian Burke could move him this summer.
Assuming the Leafs miss the playoffs this year, they will have a 2-month window this summer where they can trade Kaberle without asking him to waive his no-trade clause.
With the recent purge of players from the organization since Burke came on board, this might explain why Kaberle was willing to discuss waiving his NTC prior to the deadline - at least he would have some control over where he lands.
TSN's Bob McKenzie reports that Milan Jurcina is heading back to Washington. In return, the Columbus Blue Jackets receive the Capitals 6th round pick in the 2010 Entry Draft.
Jurcina suffered a sports henia during the Olympics and will miss the next 4-6 weeks. His contract is covered by insurance because the injury happened away from the NHL.
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Jonathan Bernier ALERT: Fantasy hockey owners of Los Angeles Kings prospect goaltender Jonathan Bernier will be pleased to know that the team has called him up from the AHL and plan to start him on Friday night against the Dallas Stars. Jonathan Quick has taken a personal leave of absence from the team to spend with his wife who is set to give birth to their first child. If you recall, I wrote about Bernier's NHL future here and I'm not a bit surprised that the team is starting him over backup Erik Ersberg. I would go so far as saying that the Kings may have a conundrum on their hands for next season, as both Quick and Ersberg are still under contract. It's unlikely the team would move Quick to make room for Bernier given the stellar season Quick has had in 2009-10. If they manage to move Ersberg, which shouldn't be difficult, it wouldn't be hard to imagine a scenario in L.A. next season not unlike the Tim Thomas and Tuukka Rask situation this year in Boston.
Ryan Whitney took two blows on Thursday night. The first was an Andrei Markov wrist shot off his leg that resulted in the Oilers defenseman having to leave the game. He will have
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NHL Central Scouting have released their complete rankings of 211 players for the 2010 NHL Entry Draft.
The International Scouting Services have released their Mid-Term Rankings for the 2010 NHL Entry Draft.
