Monday Ice Water Cooler…
It is indeed the week before training camp, well for a few teams anyway. Most teams start around the 20th or so but hey that is just twelve short days away. So what am I doing you may ask? Quite a bit! Here is what is on tap for this morning…as it fades into the afternoon.
The Pominville talk has heated up a bit again….and the numbers again being suggested are in the 5-6 million dollar range. Now is Pominville ultimately going to sign in the near future? I do not know. Is the dollar range believable? Now that I can confirm to be true as it has been mentioned in the past by several reliable sources. Buffalo must take a more aggressive approach in keeping its free agents and now is the time to do it!
So it has become obvious that the Los Angeles Kings do not need to trade for Mr. Khabibulin to get above the salary floor. So with one less dance partner, where will Khabibulin go? I am surprised that Chicago hasn’t explored the KHL option or maybe they have and basically Khabibulin said no way in hell. The problem is with Khabibulin is there is only one year left on his contract, and his age (35) is an issue as well. This is a goalie that has had a very strange career. Keep in mind, that between late 1999 and early 2001, he was out of the NHL. The numbers are not bad at all but the last three years have not been so great obviously (something about a big contract bust). He could probably use a change in scenery but Chicago just has to find the right dance partner. Those dance partners are few and far between right now.
That Toronto Center is still in the news as teams are getting ready to move on without that old captain guy. Montreal, Vancouver, New York Rangers and more appear to be poised to make other moves as it gets closer to training camp. Montreal may even bring in a guy like Brendan Shanahan, Vancouver was looking at a trade for Mathieu Schneider, and the Rangers were exploring several options including maybe Glen Murray. Nothing can be confirmed but one thing is apparent, teams have had enough of waiting. They are getting downright impatient now.
Enjoy your Monday folks and don’t forget your hockey pucks!
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