Hope Smoke: Bob McKenzie: “I think the Sharks are going to trade Joe Thornton anyway, or explore that option” … “Joe is a proud guy and I’m sure he wouldn’t be thrilled to lose the captaincy” … “I believe the Sharks need to make some tangible changes & the tangible changes are more likely to involve Thornton or Marleau…” … “…than a Pavelski or Couture. I think that’s common sense“
Hope Smoke: Bob McKenzie: “I think Spezza is available & Thornton will soon be made available. Going to be a lot of teams looking at diff options” … “The GMs are under the gun some new GMs in charge. The situation in Van we’ve yet to get a handle on. Is Kesler staying or going?” … “So there’s the potential for many significant names out there to be available for trade” … “The closer we get to the Final being over and closer we get to the draft, the more that takes over“
Hope Smoke: Bob McKenzie: “I would have thought that one of the Staal’s in Carolina would have been in play but I’m not entirely convinced Francis wants to take that step forward and blow everything up” … “You know what, I would never say never but I think Francis wants to get a new coach in and see how that group responds to him” … “Carolina is a budget team and I don’t think the new coach is going to get $2 million dollars like he would with another team” … “Sometimes that’s an impediment on getting the people you want to get. Ulf Samuelsson is 1 of the candidates for that Carolina job”
Hope Smoke: Ray Ferraro: “I think Mike Richards is in danger of being bought out, for sure. Maybe he gets what happened to Lecavalier?” … “There were 20 teams that were talking to Lecavalier. Had they not watched him?” … “I remember Lecavalier walking from interview to interview with different teams last year and saying are these GMs high?“
Hope Smoke: Ray Ferraro: “I would not be willing to part with Jake Gardiner right now”
Habs Links: Pierre McGuire: “I expect the #Canadiens to be super aggressive this offseason.”
Habs Links: McGuire also said that Garard Gallant could leave the organization for a head coaching position.
Habs Links: Pierre McGuire: “There is a market for guys like Peter Budaj.”
