Sunday Rumor Roundup

UPDATE 8:45 PM: 

- On an interesting side note, I stumbled upon a very intriguing piece in the Buffalo News, where writer Dan Zakroczemski lays out his "GM for a day" plan. Firstly, he suggests that the Sabres should upgrade their front office through the hiring of a good scout as assistant-GM to Darcy Regier. He then continues by indicating that the Sabres should rid themselves of most of their veterans, including D Toni Lydman and F Jochen Hecht, and put their youth in charge. Finally, he believes strongly that the Sabres should sign D Jay Bouwmeester.

- Cross the Edmonton Oilers off Jay Bouwmeester's list of possible suitors. 

- Things are looking grim for the Nashville Predators as they do not believe that they will be able to meet their UFAs' demands by July 1st. Nashville's most notable UFA is F Steve Sullivan, who had a great year with 32 points in 41 games after his return from severe back injuries. 

- Many things, including the hiring of Francois Allaire as goalie coach, are starting to indicate that G Jonas Gustavsson will end up a Toronto Maple Leaf.

Signings and Trades pre-FA Frenzy

Monday, June 30th

- Boston re-signs F Petteri Nokelainen to a 2-year, 1.7 M contract.

- Buffalo re-signs F Paul Gaustad to a 4-year, 9.2 M contract.

- Detroit re-signs D Andreas Lilja to a 2-year contract.

- Florida re-signs F Rotislav Olesz to a 6-year, 18.75 M contract.

- San Jose signs F Jody Shelley to a a 2-year contract.

Sunday, June 29th

- Colorado signs D Adam Foote to a 2-year, 6 M contract and D John-Michael Liles to a 4-year, 16 M contract.

- Edmonton trades F Jarret Stoll and D Matt Greene to Los Angeles for D Lubomir Visnovsky.

- Minnesota trades F Brian Rolston to Tampa Bay for a conditional 3rd round pick in the 2010 entry draft.

- Tampa Bay signs F Ryan Malone to a 7-year, 31.5 M contract and F Gary Roberts to a 1-year contract.

What the sellers have to offer

With a big number of teams, currently, out of the Playoff Picture, a slew of players could be available by the Trade Deadline.

Amongst these teams are the Los Angeles Kings, Toronto Maple Leafs, Edmonton Oilers, St. Louis Blues, Tampa Bay Lightning, New York Islanders and Chicago Blackhawks.

All these teams have interesting unrestricted free-agents come July 1st, except the Edmonton Oilers, but do not rule them out as sellers, as they have an important number of young defencemen and forwards that could be on the way out (except Gagner, Cogliano, Pitkanen...).

The teams with the most valuable assets to ship off is the Tampa Bay Lightning. Their UFAs include Dan Boyle, Vaclav Prospal and Chris Gratton. Boyle and Prospal would be welcome on any team, as for Gratton, his 55% faceoff success rate makes him somewhat of an intriguing option as a 3rd line center.

The Blackhawks along with the Oilers are the out-of-the-race teams that have the least to offer.
The Blackhawks seem to be willing to keep their young core of players together, and therefore only have UFAs Martin Lapointe and Andrei Zyuzin. Edmonton is in the same situation and their only ''notable'' UFA is Geoff Sanderson.

The Maple Leafs and Kings, respectively 29th and 30th in league standings, have some valuable UFAs to offer. Mats Sundin is most notably the top UFA forward in the market this year as the Trade Deadline approaches, and Toronto's only asset, if they decide to not trade Tomas Kaberle.
The Kings' notable UFAs include Rob Blake and Ladislav Nagy.

Finally, the Blues and Islanders also have some valuable assets to offer. St. Louis, unable to re-sign Barret Jackman up until this point in time, might be forced to trade him, and the Islanders surely want to get something in return for UFAs Miroslav Satan, Trent Hunter and Bryan Berard.

The Market this year seems quite bleek from a 100% sellers point of view, but wait until Trade Deadline day to see where Atlanta (UFAs: F Marian Hossa, F Bobby Holik, F Mark Recchi, D Steve McCarthy, G Johan Hedberg), Columbus (UFAs: F David Vyborny, F Sergei Fedorov, F Mike Peca, D Adam Foote) and Vancouver (UFAs: F Markus Naslund, F Brendan Morrison) stand, as their position could force them to add some valuable assets to the Trade Pool.

7/6/07 UFA SIGNINGS

ANY COMMENTS OR QUESTIONS ?
Please e-mail me at: afi.ville.49@gmail.com

6:45 PM- Stars sign LW Brad Winchester:
1 year at US$475,000


4:40 PM- Leafs sign G Scott Clemmensen:
1 year, two-way contract


3:40 PM- Wild sign D Sean Hill:
1 year


12:50 PM- Vanek Update:

In a 12:30 PM Press conference, Sabres' GM Darcy Regier announced that the Sabres will match the Oilers' contract offer of US$50 million over 7 years.

12:30 PM- Oilers send Vanek an offer sheet:

According to various sources, the Edmonton Oilers have sent forward Tomas Vanek an offer sheet. The offer is worth US$50 million over a period of 7 years. If the Sabres can not match the Oilers' offer, Edmonton will obtain Vanek in exchange for a compensation, more precisely of 4 1st round drat picks.

12:25 PM- Senators promote John Paddock to head coach.



8:00 AM- Top 5 Free Agents:

5) D Brent Sopel
4) C Alexei Yashin
3) LW Brendan Shanahan
2) C Peter Forsberg
1) D Sheldon Souray

7:50 AM- Rumor Central (Teams Interested):

LW Martin Gelinas (DAL)
D Sean Hill (MIN)
D Sheldon Souray (NJ, NYR, SJ)
C Alexei Yashin (DAL)

Flyers-Oilers Swap 4 Players

To Edmonton:

LW Geoff Sanderson
D Joni Pitkanen
2009 3rd Round Pick

To Philadelphia:

LW Joffrey Lupul
D Jason Smith

Continuing their frenzy of trades which have for purpose of transforming them into a cup contender, the Philadelphia Flyers acquired veteran defenseman Jason Smith, the Oilers' ex-captain who could be a top candidate for the same slot with the Flyers. They also add young but "struggling" forward Joffrey Lupul. Adding those important pieces to their lineup wasn't priceless, as the Pensylvanian club had to rid themselves of young but "falling" star Joni Pitkanen, a puck-moving defenseman around whom the Oilers will base their franchise from now on forth and veteran winger Geoff Sanderson, who also joins Kevin Lowe's team.

Winner: Draw

Three-Way Deal in the Making?

According to numerous "club executives", the Carolina Hurricanes, Edmonton Oilers and Philadelphia Flyers are working on a three-way trade that would send:

- Forward Eric Cole from Carolina to Edmonton.
- Forward Raffi Torres from Edmonton to Philadelphia.
- Defenseman Joni Pitkanen from Philadelphia to Carolina.

Now even though this is pure, but "based", speculation, this trade would make perfect sense, for the following reasons:

1) EDM: Looking desperately for a forward that could create some "buzz" in Edmonton, the Oilers may have found their man in Eric Cole, a talented veteran winger with plenty of scoring and offensive ability.

2) PHI: Raffi Torres fits the perfect description of a Flyers' player: big, tough, powerful and talented. Even though those caracteristics depict the Flyers' usual player, the Pensylvanian club does not possess one, which makes Torres a perfect fit. Therefore, it makes the Flyers re-gain the identity they lost over the last past season.

3) CAR: Ever since they lost Anton Babchuk to Europe, the Hurricanes have been looking for a young defenseman who could lead their aging core of d-men. His big frame and offensive talent are exactly what the 'Canes are looking for.

But, unfortunately, it doesn't for this reason:

Why would Philadelphia trade Joni Pitkanen, a player they love and that their remaining fans love, for only an average player in Raffi Torres ?

Of course, this deal, even though having one loop-hole, has a major one.

Rumor Central

BOS- Bruins' GM Peter Chiarelli has admitted to being in the market for a goalie. Ilya Bryzgalov and Manny Fernandez both seem to be on the "expendable" list for both their clubs.

DET- "Hard decisions" have to be made by Red Wings' GM Ken Holland, and Philadelphia's signing of Kimmo Timonen to a monster contract isn't helping him or other GMs in the market for a quality defenseman. Add to that the fact that the Wings only have US$10 million dollars to spend this offseason, and the signing of UFAs Mathieu Schneider, Dominik Hasek, Todd Bertuzzi and Danny Markov will be difficult. The most likely to remain are Schneider and Hasek, but anything can happen.

EDM- Kevin Lowe aknowledges that he is in need of a veteran player that will create "some buzz". He also says that he is ready to compromise his future for such a player. Who knows, he might not have to compromise anything, if he signs Robert Lang, who will not be re-signed by the Wings.

LAK- The Los Angeles Daily News report that the Kings will buy out the remaining 4 years of forward Alyn McCauley's contract, which would cost the "mighty" club 666 thousand over the next 4 years.

NSH- John Glennon, a writer for the "Tennessean", reports that the Predators, with the departure of Kimmo Timonen, Scottie Upshall and Tomas Vokoun, are trying to retain the services of Paul Kariya for next season. "Talks have been very positive", he says.