NHL’S Rumor Mill Is Beginning To Pick Up Steam!!
Now that the 2008-2009 season is in the books all NHL General Managers are scrambling to make deals to improve their respective teams. Seems like once again the Montreal Canadiens are leading the charge. It started with a developing story coming out of the french press Le Journal De Montreal that that Stephen Bronfman and Joey Saputo, members of two of Montreal’s wealthiest families, together have tabled a bid of $450 million, the richest to date, to purchase the Canadiens and the Bell Centre. Then for Habs fans, the days rumors seemed to get better and better. Vincent Lecavalier it seems in all likelyhood be a member as early as the day of the NHL amateur draft.
The other good news is that it seems as though current Ottawa Senators forward Danny Heatley has played his last days in Ottawa and will acquired by the Canadiens. Some reports have Heatley considering the Minnesota Wild and the St.Louis Blues but in the end the Canadiens make the most sense for him. He can step in and make a major contribution by filling the void that will possibly be made by Saku Koivu’s imminent departure. General Manager Bob Gainey is making a lot of moves to improve Hockey greatest franchise’s chances at winning the Stanley Cup next year.
Jim Balsillie may have to pay more than $400 million to buy the Phoenix Coyotes and move them to Hamilton, which is almost $200 million more than the $212.5 million he bid on the team. Rumor is that the NHL is threatening to add an indemnity fee on top of the relocation fee. About $100 million would be the relocation fee, and about the same amount would be an indemnity fee to the Buffalo Sabres and the Toronto Maple Leafs for moving in on their market. Leave it to NHL commissioner Gary Bettman to come up with a way to squeeze Balsillie because Bettman want the team to remain in Phoenix where the team has around 20 years left on their lease at their arena. Bettman may be smart but it seems to me that Balsillie’s money is going to win. We’ll check back in a few days and see what happens.
Jun 15th, 2009 at 6:19 am
heatley to the canadiens? are you serious? the sens wont trade with a rival, or even inside their division. the same goes with any team with any star that wants out; they never want their former star to play against them 8 times a year.
unfortunately montreal thinks everyone wants to play there.
Jun 15th, 2009 at 7:08 am
The final story on general manager Bob Gainey will be written in the next 2 months. To date the messiah, has not produced what was expected from him. The decision to fire coach Guy Charboneau near the end of the season and replace him with himself, as well as not to trade for any additional scorers at the trading dead line has not enhanced his position. The fact that he stayed with goalie Carey Price through the 4 straight losses to Boston in the playoffs again showed bad judgment.
As for the possible trade for high scoring Danny Heatley let’s all understand that he is under contract for another 5/6 years at a salary of approximately 7 million dollars per season. I agree that Saku Koivu will not be resigned ,but that Alexei Kovalev still remain as their premier player in the 4 million dollar a year range.