NHL Rumors Begin To Swirl Around Big Names–Heatley, Hudler and Forsberg Among Names Mentioned

Detroit Forward Jiri Hudler might be returning to the Red Wings, but the Wings don’t have enough cap room for him. So they may be forced to trade Tomas Holmstrom and his $2.25 million salary. The IIHF denied Hudler his transfer card, which means he can’t play in the KHL as he original planned.  His only option may be to return to the NHL, but the Wings are up against the salary cap and Hudler was awarded a two-year contract worth $2.875 million per season in arbitration.  What will probably happen is that Detroit will suspend him until part way through the season when they make a deal to shed some salary and then add him back onto the active roster.

After all the time Dany Heatley said he didn’t want the Senators, the team might finally be saying the same thing back.  The Sens are saying they don’t want him in camp and that could change the way negotiations have gone.  It’s going to be a total circus if Heatley shows up at camp.  Not for the players, Heatley will be the only one who has to deal with it on a daily basis.  So, without camp, Heatley might have an even smaller role — quite an ironic twist of fate.

The Dany Heatley to San Jose Sharks speculation picked up steam in a hurry after Sharks general manager Doug Wilson dumped US$4.66-million in salary by trading defencemen Christian Erhoff and Brad Lukowich to the Vancouver Canucks for prospects Patrick White and Daniel Rahimi, Wilson suggested the door was open for more trades.  Heatley has been linked to the Sharks in trade talks all summer, but they could not take on his salary because they were too close to the salary cap of US$56.7-million.  After yesterday’s trade, the Sharks have committed about US$51.5-million in cap space for next season. Heatley’s cap hit of US$7.5-million would still put San Jose over the limit, but it would be more manageable to send the difference of US$2.3-million in salary back to Ottawa in a trade.

The Sharks are also believed to have an interest in forward Phil Kessel, who has yet to resign with the Boston Bruins after becoming a restricted free agent.  Kessel has reached an impasse with the Boston Bruins.  Kessel feels like he’s worth star money and the Bruins don’t feel that he is that player.  They’re yet to be convinced that Kessel could carry a team on his own so hence the trade rumors.

Peter Forsberg was back on the ice on Thursday night in Yverdon-les-Bains, Switzerland. The 36-year-old Swedish superstar has been practising with Modo of the Swedish Elite League and Thursday he played a preseason game for his club in a 2-1 win over Geneva.  The former NHL most valuable player has also been named to Sweden’s preliminary Olympic roster of 68 players.  He has been plagued with persistent foot problems the last few years and has not played in the NHL since the 2007-08 season. In 706 career games , Forsberg has scored 249 goals and 636 assists.  Forsberg has said that if he is healthy all year he will attempt to make a NHL comeback.  If he has any kind of setback this year regarding injuries then we will not see Forsberg play in North America competitively ever again.  I for one think that he is an awesome force when healthy and would love to see him lace up his skates in the NHL once again.