NHL Breeze: Aug.16, 2010, Morning Edition

NHL Breeze: Aug.16, 2010, Morning Edition

To kick off the day, I would like to wish Happy Birthday to you!

Happy birthdays to a trio of Canadian hockey players playing on home soil:

-          Carey Price, 23, Montréal Canadiens

-          Cory Sarich, 32, Calgary Flames

-          Garnet Exelby, 29, Toronto Maple Leafs

NHL news and notes:

-          Tomas Kaberle is…a Toronto Maple Leaf. No surprise here, because Burke likes him a ton.

-          Ilya Kovalchuk will continue to hammer out a deal with either New Jersey or a new team this week. He is in Russia while Grossman is here to continue the talks with Lamoriello, and others.

-          Start your engines for Kevin Bieksa rumours! As Kaberle cooled off, Willie Mitchell heating up, Bieksa decision will come shortly. Unless Canucks cannot find a way to trade Bieksa to make room for Willie, because he really wants to stay a Canuck.

-          Richard Bloch is looking at Savard, Hossa, Pronger and Luongo deals. Awaiting a formal assessment of what he thinks about these long-term contracts.

-          Antti Niemi had too much success in the NHL as a rookie to go elsewhere. Look for his signing to come out of nowhere sometime from now to start of training camps.

-          Maxim Afinogenov and Lee Stempniak are two of the key offensive players yet to sign a contract. They both want to play in the NHL, stay tuned for their announcements.

-          Oilers GM will want to see Nikolai Khabibulin back between the pipes, because last year, the goalies behind him could not play at this level.

-          Take away Kovalchuk, Kaberle for Kevin? LA Kings and San Jose Sharks are reportedly interested and offering for Bieksa. Mitchell could be a target for LA, but Willie doesn’t really have LA in mind.

Thank you for your participation.

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