Just over a week after the NHL season ended, things are heating up in preparation for the upcoming season. With the NHL draft starting Friday teams are wheeling and dealing to get things accomplished. General Manager's phones are ringing off the hooks hearing from other GM's about deals, talking to players, and staff. The past few weeks have been time for each organization to evaluate their team, look at what they need to improve on, who they are going to draft, and if they will improve through free agency or trades. All these things are going through every single general manager's mind. Another thing that is on their minds is adjusting to the certain possibility of having a salary cap, which is at about 56.6 million, could lower by a few million dollars lower. Which is one of the factors fueling Ottawa to trade Dany Heatley to take some stress off of the cap. Other organizations have been busier long than that; looking for a new GM, coach, or a whole new staff. One of those organizations is the Minnesota Wild. Chuck Fletcher has had a busy few weeks himself, and it won't end for quite awhile. He has to deal with free agents starting on July 1st.
So far the rumors are bouncing off the walls as we come to the draft tomorrow. Big names are getting thrown around as usual, as teams try to relieve some of their cap stress. The two types of players that teams are offering are about average players with big contracts and big time players with expiring contracts or wanting big raises. A name that is getting tossed around a bit is former Gopher Phil Kessel. It is unclear if the Bruins will trade him for sure, but they are listening to offers. They Bruins are about $6 million under the cap and Kessel is expected to ask for somewhere around $5 million a year. Boston have to clear some cap room for more substantial players coming up next year, including Marc Savard and Zdeno Chara. Like all trade talks, Chuck Fletcher is involved in talks for Kessel as well. But, Boston wants a first round draft pick and a top young prospect for Kessel. Which would cost Minnesota the 12th pick tomorrow and someone like James Sheppard. It is rumored that the Wild have been looking into acquiring Penguins winger Ruslan Fedotenko. As for Minnesota trading Josh Harding there are a lot of speculations, including trading him to the St. Louis Blues are are very interested. They have a full artillery of young players that they can deal for Harding. Other teams reportedly interested are Edmonton, Colorado, Detroit, St. Louis, Philly and Toronto. According to rumors the Wild are offering Harding and Wild D Marek Zidlicky to Toronto for Leafs D Tomas Kaberle. That is a pure rumor though, there are no sources confirming this. One player that the Wild could be shopping is top draft pick Pierre Marc Bouchard. He had a verbal no trade promise from Risebrough, but that does not mean that he is safe with Fletcher at the helms. He is a big cap hit and did not step up after his 50 assist season two years ago.
Another thing to mention is Marian Gaborik has reportedly bought a house in Vancouver. Is this a sign that he is going to sign with the Canucks? It could show that Vancouver is already in talks with Gaborik, which is tampering. The Wild already filed tampering charges against the Canucks before when Vancouver allegedly talked to Pavol Demitra early. Demitra ultimately signed with the Canucks. If they sign Gaborik that could mean that Vancouver loses their top two players the Sedin twins. So it looks that Gaborik is as good as gone. Another top player leaving the team for nothing.
So the draft is tomorrow and there is looking like a lot of deals can go down anytime within today and tomorrow. I will be on later today if any trades or big news comes out. Otherwise, I will be on tomorrow after the draft with a full days recap. Thanks to Michael Russo and his "Russo's Rants" for all the inside information on hockey. I will also probably tweet about things as they go on. Check it out at https://twitter.com/BetchaSports
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