Rumors I: Blackhawks and Johansen
  • Scott Powers of ESPN Chicago: On trade rumors surrounding the Blackhawks

    Joel Quennville: “I’m not sure exactly who you’re talking about because there’s not a lot of discussions from our standpoint, but I think everybody’s looked fine,” Quenneville said at the United Center on Thursday. “Our group that’s here, I think everybody is in great shape. Everybody looks like their game’s fine.”

    Johnny Oduya: “It’s obviously something you guys like to talk about and spin your head around and whatever different possibilities or not,” said Oduya, who has been traded twice in his NHL career. “But I think for us and for me, too, I can only focus on what I’m doing. I think it’s completely out of my hands what’s going to happen or not. I realize this is the nature of the game and the business we’re in. I’ve been in situations like this before. For me, trying to focus on what I’m doing. Today is a game, so that’s what I’m focusing on today.”

    Nick Leddy: “It’s not something I can control. It’s out of my control,” said Leddy, who has been traded once. “For me, what I need to focus on is getting better every day and just focus on the team.”

    Stan Bowman: “I think leading into training camp most guys want to get going,” Bowman said. “Like I said, everyone sort of has a plan that they like how things go. Then a week from now, your plan might have to be changed because players you expected to do something . A lot of teams have some high hopes for some of the young players, and then you get them in games and you realize, well, they’re a young player, they’re not going to be able to do what I thought they might. It’s a bit of a waiting game at this point. We’ve had a lot of discussions over the last weeks or months, but until guys get on the ice, not a lot changes from July until now. I think we’ll see that play itself out over the next couple weeks here.”

  • Hope Smoke: Bob McKenzie: “If they don’t pull this thing out of the ditch it’s headed for divorce and nobody wins in divorce” … “If not divorce then a tremendous game of chicken where one side will win big and one side will lose big” … “If it goes far enough down that road it inevitably damages both parties to the point where they don’t recover from it.” … “There is a middle ground here and I think they both need to get to it and get to it fast” … “If they both want to stand on principle then they’re both going to get damaged and maybe go through an ugly divorce where he maybe gets the reputation around the league of being a guy looking for a home run deal off of one good year” … “It’s all well and good for CBJ to say that the CBA gives you leverage & he’s being unreasonable, but they’re starting the season without Horton who has a really bad back & they’re potentially starting their season without their #1 C who could potentially be that stud guy down the middle.”
  • Aaron Portzline: The Blue Jackets and Ryan Johansen haven’t talked in over a week. They are still thought to be $1.7 million apart on a two-year deal.
  • Ken Campbell: The Blue Jackets and Johansen are not talking as there is nothing to discuss until one side comes off their stated position. The “lock them in a room until they get a deal done” wouldn’t work as each side is philosophically opposed.