Latest Happenings in The NHL

Well First I have to start with the obvious one here: Mats Sundin

There was the report Philadelphia is looking into Sundin but at this point who has not even taken a look at him?  But Philadelphia does not have the cap space and will not trade any of their players to free up salary.

There is a breaking news report from Eklund of hockeybuzz that the Rangers are seriously considering moving Scott Gomez to the Canucks to make room for Sundin.  Yes Ek is highly unreliable but this is a pretty big one that you simply cannot shrug off.  To me this seems too absurd to be true. 

That the Rangers will get rid of Gomez who they just signed for seven years to get Mats who will be there for one year maybe.  It would be interesting to see if this deal happens, and who the Rangers will get. 

They cannot get another player of equal value because  the idea is to shed salary and sign Sundin with the money they gained.  So the most likely deal is young players, prospects, and draft picks with combinations of those.

Personally, there is no way Sather would be this insane to do this, but hey pre-lockout if you had any talent you were making four million plus. (See Pavel Bure, Eric Lindros, Petr Nedved, Bobby Holik, Brian Leetch, and Darius Kasparitus).  So do not be too shocked if Sather pulls this deal.

Ok I am done talking about Mats now.

I touched base on this on one of my previous articles "Marian Gaborik Going to the Buffalo Sabres? Closer to Happening Than You Think" but it now appears if Marian does not sign a new contract before training camp, there is a very good chance Marian is going to be moved before the season. 

GM Doug Risebrough said when asked about Gaborik in the St.Paul Pioneer Press, "If he were to indicate he wasn't going to sign, then we'd have to make a decision about whether we'd want to play with that distraction". 

Minnesota will want to trade him now while he is healthy and coming off his best year.  Plus they do not want the distraction of knowing Gaborik will be moved by the end of March here.  Risebrough knows Marian Gaborik's history and this was the most games he has played since 2002. 

If there is any injury, or if Gaborik does not perform anywhere close to the level last year his stock will plummet.  Gaborik clearly does not want to stay here in Minnesota otherwise he would have resigned by now or progress of talks would have been reported.

On the Buffalo Front, Jason Pominville is very close to resigning with the Sabres.  Darcy has finally changed his attitude about the key players on Buffalo and will be a force for years to come.  Although some people refuse to admit Buffalo will be good this year, I believe they will be a force. 

They are very young and with all the key players signed and having played together on Buffalo and Rochester this team has great chemistry.  Derek Roy, Thomas Vanek, Paul Gaustad, Daniel Paille, and Ryan Miller with the exception of Paille are now signed through the 2011-2012 season.

In the case of Alexander Radulov, there is still no clear cut plan on what is going to happen with him.  The KHL wants him to help their new league get going.  What is better than a Russian born player who is pretty good?  Granted he is not as big a name as fellow countrymen Evgeni Malkin but he does not want to go back to Russia. 

While Nashville and the NHL are expecting Radulov to come back and at least finish his contract.  The KHL president clearly wants Radulov and also wants to establish a friendly relationship with the NHL as he has already offered compensation for Radulov but Bettman has flatly said no. 

Once this situation gets resolved I believe the KHL and NHL will have a good relationship, so there will be no more Radulovs not honoring their contract and jumping back to Russia or Malkins fleeing to the NHL.

Finally there still has been no clear direction that arguable Future Hall of Famers Brendan Shannahan, Joe Sakic, and Teemu Selanne will play again.  A lot of reports flying around and it is only August 23rd!  Watch a lot more trades and decisions by veterans to happen as training camp draws closer.