Wellwood Done With The Leafs?

The Globe And Mail is reporting that young leafs forward Kyle Wellwood's days are numbered as a Toronto Maple Leaf. It is being reported that the Leafs will NOT even offer a contract to the Leafs RFA and as soon as Wellwood hits the market he will become a Unrestricted free Agent.

My Take: Leafs are getting worse, what do you know?

Other Leafs News: Today,The Leafs will officially announce the hiring of there two new assistant coaches, Tim Hunter and Rob Zettler, both of whom coached with new Head Coach Ron Wilson in San Jose.

Gary Roberts Will NOT re-sign With Penguins

According to TSN: Gary Roberts will NOT resign with the Pittsburgh Penguins after a two year stay. After helping the Penguins in there quest to the Stanley Cup Final Roberts will continue his career but will instead play in the NHL without a sweater with a Penguin on it.

My Take: In my opinion this is a good move by Roberts to leave. I think he will return back where he started to the Calgary Flames or maybe even Toronto. I know Toronto fans right now who are reading this are going "OH NO NOT ANOTHER OLD GUY" but this may be a one year plan so he can retire as a leaf.

Gainey "NOT" Headed To Sweden

According to Bob Mckenzie of TSN, Montreal Canadiens GM Bob Gainey is NOT and I repeat NOT headed to Sweden. Apparently Gainey has not received the Green Light to jump on the first plane to Sweden and will hold a telephone conference along with Sundin and Sundin's agent J.P. Barry.
I did not expect Gainey to head to Sweden this week anyway because of the big Gainey Foundation fundraiser that he is going to attend on tuesday at the Metropolis in Montreal.

I would like to apologize for giving FALSE INFORMATION on the Gainey/Sundin Situation as I did state that he would fly to Sweden so once again I apologize.

Rangers Got the OK To Speak To Sundin As Well

According to Sportsnet the New York Rangers have or had actually gotten the permission to speak to Maple Leafs forward Mats Sundin before the Montreal Canadiens had received permission. Sportsnet also added that the Red Wings have lots of interest in Sundin but decided not to ask permission to speak with him. It is reported that if Sundin decides to continue his career and not with the Leafs it will be with either the Habs or the New York Rangers.

Weber Resigned!!!

The Nashville Predators have resigned Defensemen Shea Weber. Deal could be for about 3 years at 3.5-4.5 per year.more details when they come in. Press Conference to announce the signing will come at 2:00pm this afternoon.

Gainey Heading to Sweden

According to TSN Montreal Canadiens General Manager Bob Gainey is flying to Sweden sometime this week in an effort to lure Leafs captain Mats Sundin not only out of retirement but to the Montreal Canadiens. Gainey who got permission from the Leafs organization to speak with Sundin has until July 1st to get a deal done with Sundin if he does in fact sign him than the habs will have to ship something over to Toronto as part of an agreement made when they gave Gainey the permission to sign Sundin.

Permission Given:Rangers Can Talk to Campbell

According to The New York Post the San Jose Sharks have given permission to the New York Rangers to speak with eligible free-agent d-man Brian Campbell. This is the exact same kind of thing the Canadiens and Leafs did with Sundin.

In other Rangers news there trouble making, pesty forward,Sean Avery will test the free-agent waters as the Rangers and Avery's agent could not come to a deal.

Florida Management Just STUPID!

Technically This is the Florida Panthers GM(Pictured)

During the first round of the 2008 NHL Entry Draft I heard a deal for Olli Jokinen has just gone down. Gary Bettman steps to the podium with an overwhelming sing of BOO's to announce the Florida Panthers have traded Olli Jokinen to the Phoenix Coyotes in exchange for Nick Boynton,Keith Ballard and a Second round pick. Ummmm.... EXCUSE ME DID I ACTUALLY JUST HEAR THAT, the answer is yes and I have not even gotten into the details of how stupid the Panthers Management is and im sure you have already found out. Now this is one of the reasons not one person has to explain why the Panthers have NO FANS.

I have actually heard from a couple stations on TV and the internet that this was one of the WORST deals offered but they were getting panicked and HAD to move Jokinen. Florida even said we want at least a first round pick included ummmmm.....rewind, NO FIRST ROUND PICK. I even heard an offer confirmed by both sides that looked exactly like this.

To Florida: Pierre-Marc Bouchard,2005 first round pick Benoit Pouliot and a 1st round pick

To Minnesota:JUST OLLI JOKINEN.

Now that deal compared to getting 1 defencemen who is in my mind past his prime and a second d-man who is young but still 1 young d-man and a second pick is still in my opinion a RIP OFF and this is what im going to make it:

FLORIDA MANAGEMENT IS JUST PLAIN,OLD STUPID!!!

NOW NOT ONE PERSON HAS TO WONDER WHY THEY HAVE NO FANS!!!!!!

Scotty

Hossa Done With Pens?

According to TSN talks between forward Marian Hossa and Penguins GM Ray Shero have broken off for now. Hossa WILL test the free agent market in an attempt to get the kind of money he wants. Pens GM Shero still left the door opened to a return to the igloo but it wont come before July 1st and maybe not ever.

Emery Clears Waivers

Ray Emery has cleared waivers and I believe he will now be bought out!

Pred Fans Line Up for J.P. Dumont

J.P. Dumont made an appearance during last night's Draft Party at the Sommet Center and hundreds lined up for autographs from our much admired Montreal-born winger. As always, J.P. was accessible and friendly. He brought his kids and they sat in the "signers" chair while J.P. stood next to the table for over an hour signing autographs. He is a class act who seems to always be available for this community.

Meanwhile, the Draft and yesterday's trades! The Preds had a productive day which will further strengthen us we move forward. We resolved the 3-man logjam in goal with the trade of Chris Mason to the Blues and have now placed our bets with Dan Ellis and 6' 5" Pekka Rinne whose time for the NHL is here. I have a feeling that It will be an interesting season in goal.

After trading our 9th pick for the Islanders' 7th (which they had previously received by exchanging their 5th for Toronto's 7th) we landed the consensus favorite of Pred fans I talked to: Colin Wilson, a strong center with great hockey sense and a solid bloodline. He'll contribute sooner rather than later and I believe that this pick will pay great dividends for us.

Then, after another interesting exchange with Ottawa, giving them our 15th for their 18th, the team surprised me by taking Chet Pickard, the goalie who, according to THN, shares many physical and metal qualities to Carey Price. Plus, he was Carey's understudy for two years. He is big, strong, and unflappable. A quote by our GM, David Poile (from Brandon Felder's HB blog): “At 15 we wanted Pickard, but we got lucky and got him at 18 after the trade with Ottawa. Some days it works out and today these were the 2 guys we wanted in the 1st round. I shook Pickard’s hand and he has huge hands. He has comparisons to Olaf Kolzig’s size. We are very excited to draft him.”


In addition, Colin Wison and Chet Pickard, along with their respective families, are best friends. This is good - the more I find out about these two picks, the brighter the picture becomes. I haven't read or seen much outside comment yet, but the analysis I've encountered so far is very positive.

More draft tomorrow and free agents just around the corner with lots of rumors. There is much more to come. It's going to be a fun summer even without any games being played.