By J.D. Lagrange, Senior Writer, All Habs Hockey Magazine
With the NHL Draft only a few days away, teams are starting to make their moves in order to attempt to follow their game plan in hope to improve their team. Whether it’s through buyouts, trades, draft of free agency, every team is going it with the hopes of getting the players they so desperately need.
PENTICTON, BC. — As the Philadelphia Flyers yet again traded a player after signing him to a long term deal, sending rugged winger Scott Hartnell packing for Columbus, they received in return for RJ Umberger, they also announced the signing of young Brayden Shenn. As there are strong rumours out of Philadelphia to the effect that the Flyers are trying to trade Vincent Lecavalier, you guessed it, a short year after signing him to a five year contract, it looks like the Flyers aren’t done dealing yet.
Not to be outdone, Montreal Canadiens’ GM Marc Bergevin and veteran defenseman Andrei Markov have come to an agreement over a three-year contract extension worth $17.25 million, and it appears like the negotiations with team captain Brian Gionta are going well, he who wants to come back for less money at a lesser role. Bergevin still has his work cut out however as he might just have the biggest fish in the pool in RFA P.K. Subban, who is eligible to receiving offer sheets from other NHL clubs come July first. While it is likely that Bergevin would match such offers, it might not be under his terms, which seems to be one of his stronger characteristics of being in control. As usual, the team is always surrounded with rumours, with Winnipeg’s Evander Kane and Edmonton’s third overall pick said to be targeted by the Canadiens’ GM.
While the Penguins are still looking for a head coach, having lost to the Canucks in the race for Willie Desjardins, there is a lot of talks out of Pittsburgh that James Neal might be on the market, and the Pens could lose a couple of key defensemen to free agency in Brooks Orpik, Matt Niskanen and Deryk Engelland.
Jason Spezza (Ottawa) and Ryan Kesler (Vancouver) have recently asked to be traded and it seems very likely that both will be playing somewhere in the US starting next as both have a No Movement Clause to their contract and have apparently made that request.
Speaking of the Canucks, they have bought out the contract of David Booth while the New York Rangers have done the same with centre Brad Richards. Both players will be unrestricted free agents comes July 1st. The Canucks, who had bought out Keith Ballard’s contract last summer, and the Rangers, who did the same with Wade Redden, have now used both their compliance buyout which, as we know, don’t count against the salary cap. Other teams who have used their two buyouts are the Blackhawks (Steve Montador and Rostislav Olesz), the Flyers (Daniel Brière and Ilya Bryzgalov) and the Maple Leafs (Mike Komisarek and Mikhail Grabovski). Dallas, Detroit, Edmonton, Minnesota, New Jersey, the Islanders, Tampa Bay and Washington all have one buyout remaining while all other teams still have their two available. The most likely candidates to see their contract being bought out are Jordin Tootoo, Ryan Malone, Erik Cole and Anton Volchenkov, while rumours in Los Angeles to the effect that the Kings were thinking of buying out Mike Richards’ contract have been denied by GM Dean Lombardi.
The unrestricted free agents, while interesting, are not necessarily impact players this year but that being said, there are some very good hockey players in the mix, and some very good role players. Marian Gaborik played extremely well for the Kings after the trade deadline and in the playoffs while the same cannot be said about Thomas Vanek, whose stock has dropped drastically after a dismal playoffs showing with the Canadiens. Paul Stastny has stated that he will be listening to offers before deciding to stay (or not) in Colorado, while veteran goaltenders Ryan Miller and Martin Brodeur appear to be heading to free agency. There are some quality “grinders” who will draw some interest such as Ryan Callahan and Steve Ott, but teams might be a bit more careful after last summer’s results with David Clarkson in Toronto and Ryane Clowe in New Jersey.
No matter which way we look at it, there are teams talking out there, there are GMs working the phones and discussing with their scouting staff and coaching team, and this week should be fun to watch if you’re a true and true hockey fan. In less than a week, we should see some different line-ups out there and it makes for interesting times for fans of the teams involved.