I believe that Iginla could end up being the Flames’ Mats Sundin.  He wants to stay.  He wants to be part of the solution. But what if he has to be traded to make the team better?  That’s the question Calgary is left with.  So despite indications that Iginla wants to stay, the Flames may try to convince him to go elsewhere because their current plan isn’t exactly working.

Filatov trade may be imminent:

Relations between Nikita Filatov and the Columbus Blue Jackets have turned chilly, and this might mean that a trade is imminent.  The Jackets could bring him back this season to see what he can do, but it would he horrible for locker room chemistry.  So the bet here is that Filatov will never again wear a Blue Jackets sweater, that he’ll be traded at the NHL entry draft in June or later in the summer.  Filatov is still considered an elite prospect — some still feel he could turn into a superstar.  That might mean the Jackets can yield a proven NHL player in exchange for the 19-year-old winger.

Thomas to Flyers possible:

The Philadelphia Flyers tried to trade for Tim Thomas at the trade deadline and with their goalie troubles right now, they may try again in the offseason.  The Flyers lost Ray Emery to a potentially career-threatening injury and, now, they’re without Michael Leighton for the season.  So it’s Brian Boucher all the way.  That’s bad.  So although they could target Marty Turco, Dan Ellis for Evgeni Nabokov — all impending free agents — I feel that they’ll target Thomas instead.

In Boston, Tuukka Rask has taken over the No. 1 job and if the Bruins can hold onto their playoff spot, it looks like Rask will be starting over Thomas, the reigning Vezina winner.  What makes Thomas even more appealing to the Flyers is the dip in his salary each of the next three years. He’ll make $6 million next season, but that goes down to $5 million in 2011-12 and then $3 million in 2012-13.

New Habs GM Pierre Gauthier indicated he wants to re-sign Tomas Plekanec, so although there hasn’t been much contract talk yet, Gauthier might start soon because if he can’t get something done, he could trade Plekanec.  The interest is certainly there. Last month, Vancouver Canucks GM Mike Gillis took several of his top assistants and scouts for a trip to Montreal, and there was buzz that he was eying Plekanec, as well as Habs defensemen Josh Gorges and Ryan O’Byrne.  But unless the Habs think they can’t sign Plekanec at all, they might hold onto him because Plekanec has said he has no intentions of testing the free agent market.

Another concern for Montreal is the goalie position.  With Habs GM Bob Gainey stepping down, Pierre Gauthier takes over and he indicated that he will hold onto his two goalies until after the season.  Either Carey Price or Jaroslav Halak will have to go because both guys expect to start, and most have speculated that it will be Halak who is traded at the deadline.  We know Gainey was likely in favor of dealing Halak, but scouts generally feel Price is the more valuable goalie, which might be why the Habs haven’t discussed any serious trades regarding him. Halak, on the other hand, was almost headed to Philadelphia at one point.

Also, there was buzz that Halak demanded a trade because he wants to be a starter, but since his rumored demand, he has played so well that he has essentially been the No. 1 goalie in Montreal over Price. The St. Louis Blues and Dallas Stars may be suitors for Halak in the offseason.

More Rumors From the Ice.

Anaheim Ducks GM Bob Murray was spotted at the Atlanta Thrashers-Toronto Maple Leafs game, which might indicate that something is going on between the Leafs and Ducks.  Meanwhile, Leafs scouts have been spotted at previous Ducks games, only furthering the speculation.  Rumor is that Murray has been entertaining numerous trade scenarios.  Teams have inquired about the availability of Bobby Ryan and Scott Niedermayer, but it appears Ryan isn’t going anywhere while Niedermayer may be trade bait.  Two names that keep coming up in Ducks trade talks are Joffrey Lupul and Jean-Sebastien Giguere, so those guys may be moved at some point this season.  Though the Leafs will likely stay away from Giguere, Lupul might be the guy they’re after.  One possible scenario might be a Giguere for Vesa Toskala deal, with other pieces involved.

Canadiens goalie Jaroslav Halak going to the St.Louis Blues is looking like a possibility. Some have felt Halak should be starting over Carey Price in Montreal, but since that doesn’t look like it’s going to happen, it might be time they spun their backup goalie into some gold.  One possible destination for Halak is Philadelphia, where Flyers starting goalie Ray Emery is hurt and while backup Brian Boucher is taking on the No. 1 job, there seems to be no long-term option there, so Halak might be the fix.

Another rumor is that the St. Louis Blues are interested.  With Chris Mason and Ty Conklin, though, it doesn’t seem it’s an urgent matter.  As with every goalie rumor, the Detroit Red Wings might be looking this direction, too, but acquiring Halak might mess with the development of Jimmy Howard so the Wings might be favoring a short-term veteran stop-gap.  Even so, NHL scouts say that teams are interested in Halak.

Habs backup goalie Jaroslav Halak has gotten more ice time than franchise goalie Carey Price, which might mean the latter player will soon be traded.  More and more, it appears management is pushing to see if Halak has what it takes to be a top NHL goalie, and he’s definitely shown flashes.  Price was supposed to be Montreal’s goalie of today and the future, things just aren’t working out that way.  The 2005 fifth overall draft pick took the NHL by storm in his rookie year, with a .920 save percentage in 41 games played and an average of a Quality Start per game.  Unfortunately, goaltending performances fluctuate from season to season more often than at any other position, and too many expectations were placed on the British Columbia native too soon.  The past year has been nothing short of a disaster for Price, but maybe he will get a second chance to prove he’s a starting goalie elsewhere.

After Nikolai Khabibulin took the Blackhawks to the Western conference finals some worried that with his departure to the Edmonton Oilers in the offseason that the goaltending duties would be well handled by Cristobal Huet.  Well, it seems that some of those fears are now being realized.  If backup netminder Antti Niemi continues to play well, and Cristobal Huet continues to struggle, there will be a change in goal for the Blackhawks.  This comes after Huet, the No. 1, was pulled last night after just seven minutes into the third period, after allowing three goals on five shots.

The chances of superstar forward Ilya Kovalchuk re-signing with the Atlanta Thrashers is 70-30 according to my sources.  But if he doesn’t want to re-sign with the Thrashers then it’s possible he may be traded to the Edmonton Oilers.  If the Thrashers are moving their captain and best player at the deadline, it means they can’t sign him and he’s going to be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season.  That complicates things for the team dealing and the team that’s interested because Atlanta wants to get something for a guy who’s going to walk, but can’t get market value for an impending unrestricted free agent.

Anaheim Ducks netminder Jean-Sebastien Giguere could be headed north to the Toronto Maple Leafs after Vesa Toskala’s struggles.   Also, Jonas “The Monster” Gustavsson who is looking to unseat Toskala as the teams number 1 goalie got his first start last night and ended up losing 2-1.  There are reports that the Leafs are afraid that Toskala is not viable and that he will continue to struggle.  The leafs acquired Gustavsson in the offseason because they were not convinced that Toskala would be their future between the pipes.

It seems as though Semyon Varlomav playoff run last season has not won him any favors with the Washington Capitals coaching staff.  Head Coach Bruce Boudreau needs Varlamov to be mentally tougher.  He lets opposing teams score in bunches and that zaps his confidence.  In the playoffs it’s easier to keep your head in the game because everything is always on the line, sometimes you get caught up in the regular season feeling as if things should be easier only to find out they’re not.  The rookie needs to keep his chin up and all will be good, let’s remember he does have a few guys who can score in bunches of their own like MVP Alex Ovechkin.

I’m hearing rumblings of an NHL team moving back to Winnipeg.  Their have been ongoing negotiations with the Atlanta Thrashers to possibly relocate.  It’s no secret that the Thrashers are losing money (6 million a year to be exact) and now word comes that Canada’s richest man may be getting involved.  David Thomson is interested in bringing a team to the northern Manitoba city.  Thomson already owns the arena where the Manitoba Moose play and is looking to revive the history of the Jets.  The team left Winnipeg for Phoenix Arizona where they thought they would find greener pastures. Over fifteen years later that isn’t the case and that same team is hemorrhaging money.  Blackberry owner Jim Basillie is trying to acquire the Phoenix team and move it to Hamilton.  He hasn’t been successful yet which is why I feel Thomson is getting involved with the NHL, he is way to wealthy and influential to not get what he wants.

Stay tuned for more on this developing story. Follow us on Twitter @hockeylicious.

Former Colorado Avalanche superstar Peter Forsberg wants to play for the Washington Capitals, and the Capitals want him.  Forsberg scored the overtime game-winner today for MoDo of the Swedish Elite league, in his second game of his comeback attempt to the NHL.  About 15 NHL scouts were in attendance for the game and all of them were drooling when they saw him fly up and down the ice.  One of the scouts says that it was the best Forsberg had looked in the last 5 years.  Forsberg was dominating the play and he didn’ t get much ice-time, only some box-play and some regular five-on-five, yet the assist on the first goal was pure Forsberg.  It cut through the ice, through two opponents to a team-mate with an open net.  If they would have played him on the powerplay the scoreline could have been a lot different.  But he was a menace out there, a constant threat, he even had a brawl with ex-San Jose Shark Marcus Ragnarsson.  All the experts in Sweden were stunned.  The old Forsberg is back.  A line with Forsberg, Alex Ovechkin and Mike Knuble could be unstoppable.  This is definitely a scenario that the Caps would like to see happen.

Capitals netminder Semyon Varlamov was neck and neck with Michal Neuvirth for the backup position to Cristobal Huet, but it now looks like he’s going to start the season with the big squad.  Varlamov was a sensation in net during last seasons playoff run.

Boston Bruins forward Marc Savard will be highly sought after next offseason when his contract is up, and the Toronto Maple Leafs might be one team that swoops in to grab him.  The Bruins may not have the cap room to sign Savard next offseason, especially if they choose to extend some of their other free agents.  So Toronto may try to reunited Savard with Phil Kessel.  Savard however has said he likes it in Boston, so we’ll have to see how this one plays out.  This could be one of the reasons that the bruins may extend an offer to Ilya Kovalchuk.

Other News and Notes

Toronto Maple Leafs rookie forward Nazem Kadri’s good play is spurring speculation that he might make the team, but GM Brian Burke doesn’t like all the speculation.  Kadri has impressed all throughout camp and yesterday, he scored a game-tying goal against the Pittsburgh Penguins and the game-winning shootout goal, too.

With Minnesota Wild enforcer Derek Boogaard out with an injury, the fighting might fall on the shoulders of 6-foot-8 John Scott.  It would probably be wise for all NHL players to look out for this guy, because Scott boxed with Boogaard and core strength coach Jeremy Clark this summer.  The training has really helped a lot with his punching and core power.  Case in point: Sunday, he got into a fight with Chicago Blackhawks minor leaguer Danny Bois.  After a few seconds, Scott just reared back and dropped Bois to the ice, case closed.

Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov wants to move the New Jersey Nets to Brooklyn.  So what’s that have to do with the New York Islanders?  Well, if Prokhorov builds the new arena east of Manhattan, there could be a new potential home for the Islanders.  Several thousands of Islanders fans voiced their bias toward Brooklyn over the other relocation option, Kansas City because, for Long Islanders, Brooklyn’s a little bit closer.  No really, this is actually one of the reasons the Isles fans are clinging to.  Seems pretty desperate to me, there will always be someone who is happy and someone who is angry about relocation.  That’s sports and money is the name of the game.

Mats Sundin is no longer on the Canucks radar.  Vancouver has moved on and are now figuring out what to do with the forwards they have.  This just adds more fuel to the fire that Sundin is ready to retire from the NHL.  After recently getting married Sundin isn’t ready to make any final decisions on his career however we have all seen this ploy before from an aging NHL player.  We know what comes next.

With Max Talbot hurt, the Pittsburgh Penguins have to figure out who will play alongside Evgeni Malkin and Ruslan Fedotenko.  So Tyler Kennedy is getting the first shot.  Kennedy was on the third line with Jordan Staal and Matt Cooke last season.  If Kennedy fails, Pascal Dupuis will get the next shot to replace Talbot.  Nick Johnson is in the driver’s seat to replace Kennedy on the third line.

The Florida Panthers have signed defenseman Dennis Seidenberg to a one-year deal.  Seidenberg could have stayed in Carolina but Florida’s deal was to good to pass up.  Rumor has it that it was a one year deal for just under 3 million.

Petr Sykora will come to training camp on a tryout basis with the Minnesota Wild and he’ll likely sign, but what does that mean for other Wild players?  Well, for Coltan Gilles it means that he will probably be sent down to the AHL.  If that happens the Wild will save around $1 million on his contract.  It would also make Andy Hilbert and Craig Weller long shots to make the team.  GM Chuck Fletcher expects teams with salary cap problems to try to get rid of players, either through the waiver wire or via trade, so this may be his way of getting Sykora in the fold without committing money that he might want to spend later.

Theo Fleury is meeting with commissioner Gary Bettman and his deputy, Bill Daly seeking reinstatement to the NHL.  He applied for reinstatement, but Fleury hasn’t completed the drug rehab program he was suspended to in 2003, and might not have time to complete it prior to the season.  However, Fleury met with NHL and NHLPA’s substance abuse programs doctors, and they may not force him to complete the program.  In fact I just learned that the NHL has cleared Fleury to join any NHL team for training camp.  Fleury says he’s been sober for four years.  Earlier, there was a rumor that Fleury was signing with the AHL’s Abbotsford Heat, but that rumor was debunked.  He will get a invitation to the Calgary Flames camp to show if he has anything left in his tank.

It’s possible that New Jersey Devils center Patrik Elias may miss the start of the season as he recovers from hip/groin surgery.  He had it on June 12 and it takes three months or a little longer to recover.  Elias, the Devils’ all-time leading scorer, is likely going to start the season as the second-line center.

Rumor has it that Minnesota Wild GM Chuck Fletcher is dangling centerman Eric Belanger out to be traded.  The 31-year-old center is in the last year of his contract.  Fletcher is looking for a strong two way center who can contribute on the penalty killing unit.

The Dany Heatley situation is one that is really starting to bug me.  All parties involved need to come together and get a deal done for the sanity of the Ottawa Senators organization and for all of its fans.  No one deserves to be treated this way.  Both parties should stop being babies and just reach down deep inside and show what it means to be a PROFESSIONAL.

The most recent rumor has a potential three-way deal with the San Jose Sharks and the Los Angeles Kings getting in on the fun.  The Kings’ Jarrett Stoll and Alexander Frolov would go to Ottawa, Patrick Marleau would head south to the Kings and Heatley would end up in San Jose.  Another rumor has Ottawa sending  him to the New York Rangers for Marc Staal and Brandon Dubinsky but I wouldn’t hold my breath on that one happening.

Stay tuned for all future breaking news and rumors. You can follow us on twitter for daily updates.