Tucker To Retire

Now I heard this from a friend who has a friend that is close to Tucker and his family. I dont know how true it is so take it for what it is worth. If Tucker is to retire all I can say is you had a great run buddy!

Theodore To Test Free Agency, Flames Waive 3

According to The Denver Post Avalanche goalie Jose Theodore WILL test free agency. Agent Don Meehan stated that He and his client(Theodore) can still make a deal with the Avalanche but it looks more like it will happen after July 1st if at all.




Also Flames have placed Marcus Nilson, Anders Eriksson and Rhett Warrener on waivers.

Salary Cap Raised

TSN Reports that the NHL will raise its salary cap this year. The new salary cap will be 56.7 million. Thats a raise of 6.3 million dollars from last year. The Minimum amount of money that has to be spent is 40.7 million dollars.

1 More Year For Niedermayer!

According to TSN, Ducks D-man Scotty Niedermayer met with Ducks GM Brian Burke and has decided he will finish out his contract and remain with the Ducks for 1 last year!

My Take: I agree with his decision to return he has a great life in Anaheim and has to remain loyal to his team by finishing out his contract.

Preds Prospect Camp

Colin Wilson, Chet Pickard & Roman Jusi

Wow! I can see why David Poile and his team wanted center Colin Wilson. This kid is going to be with the big club sooner rather than later. Speaking of David Poile, Edward Fraser of THN had this to say: "Mix all of Poile’s off-season ingredients, stick ‘em in the oven and out pops a cake worthy of (very) early 2008-09 THN Executive of the Year consideration". I agree. Our first round pick in the just-completed draft (#7 overall) will have to eventually put Boston U. on hold for awhile. The player TSN said was comparable to Ron Francis certainly lived up to his billing for the brief time I was able to watch him.

Just returned from observing a bit of the first day of prospect camp. (The Preds have made two one-hour slots available to the public today and tomorrow.) After 45 minutes or so of various drills, the 20 or so prospects from recent drafts played a bit of cross-ice 3 on 2 that was all-out. A lot of fun for us, no doubt. The highlight was Mr. Colin Wilson with a behind the back pass, a deke move, another pass, and then a slick score as he took an elbow to the head. He is a tough athlete with excellent skills. He has good hands, sees the ice and those around him well, can pass, skate and shoot the puck. Plus, I saw early signs of someone that won't be afraid to get in front of the net.

Moving on, Cody Franson is awesome. He has filled out considerably since last year and is skating and shooting the puck with conviction. He exhibited a strong wrister and good eyes for the net. This 6' 5" 205 lbs defenseman won't be in the AHL much longer. He is becoming the young stud so many have predicted.

While not everyone looked great and NHL-ready today, the energy was good and the excitement in these players is palpable. Each one wants to make it to the NHL team, although unfortunately not all will.

Of note, I was most impressed with another of this year's picks, Swiss-born defenseman Roman Josi, a seccond-round pick (#38 overall). He will be an effective NHL player in the not-to-distant future. Great skating and stick handling skills. I had no idea he would be that accomplished. Also impressive was 2006 pick Blake Geoffrion who looked solid and confident. The Preds continue to amass great depth in D. Our tradition of wealth of future high quality NHL blueliners will not be broken anytime soon.

And then there are the goalies. Chet Pickard (another 1st round pick for us this year) was Carey Price's understudy for two years and is going to be a great one, I think. A friend who has watched him develop since he was a kid stated that he was a gem and would ultimately be better than Price, Giguere, and Toskala. Pretty strong endorsement. And we still have two more high-quality prospect goalies in Jeremy Smith and Mark Dekanich who the have potential to be starters in the NHL someday. They too looked sharp today.

Also of note were the skating of brothers Mike and Mark Santorelli, Nick Spaling, and a supercharged Andreas Thuresson, all forwards who are looking to make upward moves in their careers.

Enough glowing praises. All I'll say is that it was great seeing all of these up and coming skaters on the ice working to succeed in the game they love.

Perry Gets Qualifying Offer

according to TSN the Anaheim Ducks have made a qualifying offer to forward Corey Perry. Other players receiving qualifying offers were Stephen Dixon, Jason King, Geoff Platt and Drew Miller.