Day Before NHL Draft Teams Rumor Mill Heats Up Even More!
It seems with the draft looming this weekend teams are making all kinds of moves in order to better their teams. The hot rumors of the day are as follows; Boston Bruins forward and main playmaker Marc Savard is being shopped around by the Bruins. He has one year left on his contract for $5 million. He has a no trade clause in his contract, but he will likely waive it if he can be closer to his kids in Ontario.
The Philadelphia Flyers have made it no secret that they covet Florida Panther defenseman Jay Bouwmeester, this years top free agent. The Flyers want to trade for his rights and sign him before he becomes an unrestricted free agent on July 1. If this deal goes down then it will probably be prior to or during the NHL Draft on Friday.
Marian Gaborik is sending subtle hints that he wants to play for the Vancouver Canucks. the Minnesota Wild forward bought a house in Vancouver, as he’s set to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1. If the Canucks lose out on re-signing the Sedin twins then Gaborik makes perfect sense. Plus with Wild GM focusing on Ottawa Senators Dany Heatley it seems like Gaborik’s days in Minnesota are numbered.
Montreal Canadiens GM Bob Gainey isn’t talking with any free agents yet because he said there could be a blockbuster trade over the weekend. The potential deal to get Vincent LeCavalier from the Tampa Bay Lightning is still very much in play. We’ll see if Gainey can acquire the right players to put the Habs back on top.
Lightning owners Oren Koules and Len Barrie have been drifting apart for months now (according to whispers within the organization), and finally, it blew up — so NHL commissioner Gary Bettman is being called in to mediate. According to anonymous sources, the owners can’t agree on anything. So it’s possible that Bettman could go in there and decide which owner will have control of the franchise. In short, this could turn out to be a custody battle, and one owner may lose out.
Jun 25th, 2009 at 9:04 am
This is the weekend that basically makes or breaks a team for the season. There are many free agents that each team has already ear marked that won’t be resigned by their existing team allowing potential money to be freed up. There are as well free agents with no trade contracts that have informed their general managers that they would like to be traded to a select group of teams. Any time these players let their wishes be know the best direction to take is to trade them as their heart is no longer there. It will be a very interesting 2 days at the draft table in Montreal with many players joining new teams through trades as well as prospective juniors join their new team.