Canucks to Dump on Kings?

			2008-2009 Statistics		2010
To Vancouver	Pos	Age	GP/MIN	Points	Cap Hit
Alex Frolov	F	27	77	59	1 year/$2.9 million
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			2008-2009 Statistics		2010
To Los Angeles	Pos	Age	GP/MIN	Points	Cap Hit
Pavol Demitra	F	34	69	53	1 year/$4 million
Shane O'Brien	D	25	77	10	1 year/$1.6 million
2010 3rd Round Pick

An interesting trade rumour surfaced on Twitter (@NHLSourcesSay) this morning, seeing the now over-budget Canucks trying to clear space by moving Pavol Demitra and Shane O'Brien to Los Angeles for Alexander Frolov. The move would be one that clears $2.7 million from the books, which would leave the Canucks about $1 million over the cap limit with 22 players on the roster.

This move is a step in the right direction for the Canucks, but the Kings may be taking the brunt end of a deal which sees a couple of under-performing players with larger contracts. The Kings are still in a re-building mode, which likely means that they can be the whipping boys of the cap era, for now. Demitra may be a nice compliment to Anze Kopitar and the Kings' power play, but his numbers would have to improve for the Kings to get a good shake out of this dea.

I wouldn't say that this deal is out of the question, especially since the Kings have been rumoured to rid themselves of Frolov and have plenty of cap space.

Marleau On His Way Out?

The Sharks have been a well-worn name for trade rumours this summer and there seems to be more rumblings from Eklund at HockeyBuzz that something could be coming together involving their now-former captain, Patrick Marleau.

With San Jose deep in the discussion for Dany Heatley, there is the understanding that they will have to shed some cap space in somewhat of a 3-way deal, which is likely to include Marleau heading out of town. The Sharks are already in deep cap trouble, having only 17 players (including Marleau) signed on for next season at a cap rate of $56.2 million, leaving themselves very little room to maneuver.

Marleau's cap hit for 2010 will be $6.3 million, which is a nice, tidy sum, but Heatley will drop a huge $7.5 million on any team he lands on, so the Sharks are going to have to be awfully shrewd, if they are to swing any sort of deal here. This would mean that the package heading out of San Jose will have to include some more players than just Marleau, but with the captaincy removed from him, he does seem like the more likely target.

Now, if we were to take anything from the Eklund rumour post, there is a Northeast team in the mix, which isn't Canadian, which may, in fact, eliminate Ottawa and Heatley from this mix. This could easily suggest that the Bruins are in this mix with their troubled dealings with Phil Kessel. This does seem less likely, however, since the Bruins are in no cap shape to pick up a guy like Marleau, especially since they can't seem to find the cap room to find a younger, cheaper RFA in Kessel. That only leaves Buffalo on that list of teams and they aren't sitting in a position to make too many moves either, unless, they are going to drop a prospect or two with a roster player, but that seems rather unlikely.

Something isn't quite right here.

Tanguay Still On The Market

The enigma that is Alex Tanguay has still not found a place to play this summer, remaining an unrestricted free agent for the time being.

Tanguay has been a sketchy player since leaving Colorado for Calgary in 2006. It was really hard to guess what the problem was in Calgary, but a lot of fingers pointed at the defensive system that was employed in the Sutter years. His move to Montreal last summer was met with some cautious optimism, but an injury-plagued year really seems to have put a damper on his reputation this summer.

Tanguay finished the 2009 regular season playing only 50 games, scoring 16 goals and 25 assists. He missed 28 games due to a separated shoulder, which also seemed to bother him in the playoffs, missing two games in the Spring.

It shouldn't come as a surprise that he is being courted to some degree by teams, but you can understand why some teams are hesitant to show him the big dollars he once commanded. A 58-point season followed by a 41-point season is hardly worth the big dollars he was making in his high-scoring days.

The Minnesota Wild have been one of those teams linked with Tanguay over the past couple weeks, which would make for an interesting combination possibility with Martin Havlat and/or Mikko Koivu, who are both somewhat known to be injury-fodder as well. If they were all to be healthy, they would make up a slick offensive line, which would be hard to gauge at the beginning of the season.

The Wild have some cap space left, but I'm sure that they don't want to burn it all on one player before camp. They are currently sitting with a projected line-up of 21 players at $52.2 million. I estimated Tanguay's cap value at $4.5 million in July, but now that we're at the end of August, there could be a time discount, as he hasn't picked up any big bites at that price. Now, I would expect him to sign for around $3.5 million.

The Lightning have also been named in the Tanguay sweeps (of sorts), but they had quieted down as the Wild came up through the weeds. The Lightning have plenty of room for Tanguay, if they wanted to pick him up, but the organization likely can't agree on whether or not to actually sign him. I would have to think that Tanguay would be a good compliment to players like Vincent Lecavalier, Martin St. Louis or even Steven Stamkos. A smooth skater and playmaker, like Tanguay, would have three capable goal scorers to possibly play with.

As of right now, the Lightning only have 18 players projected to be in their line-up at a cap hit of $41.8 million.

Canucks to Sign Schneider?

The rumours have been swirling for some time now that the Canucks are making their way closer to signing UFA defenseman, Mathieu Schneider. Last night, Sportsnet posted a quick hit making light of the rumour and it's possible finish in the near future. The reported deal is said to be for one season at a cost of $1.5 million.

Schneider, 40, split time between Atlanta and Montreal in 2009, playing in 67 games, scoring 9 goals and adding 23 assists. Even at that veteran age, Schneider was picking up plenty of power play ice-time for the Habs upon his return, which definitely helped his overall production for the year. Schneider finished as the 47th ranked defender in terms of pool points, which should still keep him in the discussion for being draft worthy this Fall.

The Canucks have been looking for another defenseman to help out their team from the back-end, especially on their power play. A move like this could be beneficial to the team, both financially and experience-wise.

Bertuzzi Heading Back to Detroit?

There are reports surfacing that the Red Wings are now negotiating with Todd Bertuzzi, who played for Detroit not too long ago. There is also some rumoured reports that the Wings have offered a 1-year deal that would be worth $1.5 million.

Bertuzzi played in 66 games last season for the Flames, while battling a back injury in January and a knee injury in March. He managed to score 15 goals and add 29 assists, which wasn't a bad total, one of his better years in the past three seasons.

The addition of Bertuzzi would pretty well sum up the remainder of the off-season, as the Wings won't have any more cap space to deal with for regular one-way deals. His $1.5 million would put the team over, technically, at this point, but they do have some injury concerns, which may help out their overall cap number. This signing will also help an already diminutive team, which is by far the smallest in the league. Bertuzzi's 6'3" frame is far larger than the team average of 5'11". The added size will certainly help the overall offensive product, when Bertuzzi is healthy.

I still wouldn't expect big numbers from Bertuzzi in Detroit, but I wouldn't say they would be bad numbers either.

Heatley to San Jose?

			2008-2009 Statistics		2010
To San Jose	Pos	Age	GP/MIN	Points	Cap Hit
Dany Heatley	F	28	82	72	5 years/$7.5 million
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			2008-2009 Statistics		2010
To Ottawa	Pos	Age	GP/MIN	Points	Cap Hit
Jonathan Cheechoo	F	29	66	29	2 years/$3 million
Christian Ehrhoff	D	27	77	42	2 years/$3.1 million
2010 1st Round Pick

Sorry for the lack of posting here of late, there was that vacation I had and very little rumour to play with since I've been sitting in front of my computer, but this one does remain intriguing.

TSN.ca has reported that the new deal between Ottawa and San Jose could look a little like something above, but apparently Ottawa GM, Bryan Murray, says he's not interested. It certainly seems strange, especially since he'll get some quality offensive talent, which the Sens were not deep at last season and a first rounder, which has been some seriously top drawer value over the past few seasons.

Of course, the deal between Ottawa and Edmonton saw three roster players going straight across and that may be what Murray is holding out for, which isn't bad, but having two quality roster players and a big valuable pick isn't the worst thing that can happen to Ottawa.

On the flip side, the Sharks apparently need to make a flip in order to facilitate this deal. Well, let me assure you, there is no apparently about it. The Sharks are in huge cap trouble, as my numbers indicate that they only have 17 players signed on (including Cheechoo and Ehrhoff) at $56.3 million (rounded up), leaving only $500,000 underneath the cap. The Sharks would actually have to make a huge salary dump in this deal, especially since they are taking on more money against the cap in this deal for Heatley.

If the deal doesn't make sense for the Sens, it definitely doesn't make a lot of sense for the Sharks, so this one should almost be a moot point, period.