Courtesy: Mitchell Layton/Getty Images
– The New York Rangers have fired head coach John Tortorella. The announcement came earlier today. This could also be the end of the Brad Richards experiment.
– That now leaves the Rangers, Canucks, Stars and Coyotes coachless. Could Lindy Ruff be the replacement in NY? He’s been getting a lot of buzz especially out of Dallas. This will be very interesting considering he wouldn’t have to move his family very far to go to the Big Apple.
– The remaining 5 teams in the Stanley Cup Playoffs are the last 5 Stanley Cup Champs: Detroit, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Boston and L.A. (Chicago and Detroit battle it out in game 7 tonight.
– Joe Sakic said he is open for trade talk involving the Avalanche’s first overall pick in this years draft. Perhaps that would be an open door for the Buffalo Sabres to ship disgruntled goaltender Ryan Miller, who would be a perfect fit in Colorado especially with former Av and HoF’er Patrick Roy as head coach.
– Daniel Alfredsson is still unsure of his status for next year. He could retire or come back and try to win a Cup with Ottawa. However, the Sens would love to know what his plans are before July 5th, so they know how much money they can spend on free agents. They would also love to make a deal for Anaheim’s Bobby Ryan. Sergei Gonchar wants to stay in Ottawa, but would have to take a discount from his $5.5M. A few teams would be willing to sign him to a one year deal, as he could retire in the next two seasons.
– The Rangers have a lot of work to do this off-season. Brad Richards name has been a constant when talking about a buyout. He’s only been there a little over a year, and wants to stay and prove critics wrong. Now with Tortorella gone, chances are Richards is gone. Ryan Clowe, who came over in trade, has been a great addition and wants to re-sign despite missing the playoffs with a mystery ailment. However, other UFA’s the Rangers need to lock up are D Ryan McDonagh and F Derek Stepan, also RFA’s F Carl Hagelin and Mats Zuccarello. The Rangers have $20M in cap space.
– Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist is the other big question mark. He has one year left on his deal and isn’t jumping on the chance to stay in New York unless the Rangers get him the offensive support he needs to win a Cup.
– The Flyers also have a LOT of tinkering to do this off-season. After not making the playoffs, the Flyers lineup might look a lot different come September. Danny Briere will most likely be bought out and teams will be lining up to sign him – perhaps Montreal. Ilya Bryzgalov is the big question mark, but chances are the Flyers will buy him out as well and look for another goalie via trade to go along with Steve Mason, who played very well for them the last part of the season. The Flyers desperately need a big defenseman and they will target Rangers Ryan McDonagh, unless he re-signs with New York. Sean Couturier could be used as trade bait to lure a goalie – maybe Vancouver and Roberto Luongo?
Courtesy: Washington Post
– The Caps need to figure out what they are going to do with Mike Ribeiro. Most teams will jump at the chance to sign him, and the Caps don’t have a lot of room to work with anymore regarding cap space. Matt Hendricks will most likely be a casualty to dismay of fans and teammates, but the Rangers will snatch him up immediately. Alzner and Johansson are RFA’s but teams will come calling to see if the Caps are interested in trading them. Poti won’t be back and Schultz, Chimera and Ward will be shopped to see what GMGM could get. If McPhee can shed some salary, the next generation of Caps can step up – Tom Wilson, Dmitry Orlov, Nate Schmidt, Cameron Schilling, and that Russian kid that will end up being like Semin.
– There is progress in the Sochi Olympic talks regarding NHL participation. The major issues are the logisitcs of travel and insurance for players in case of injury and who pays for it all. The KHL however will be well represented. The NHL if/when they participate will shut down from February 8th to February 25th, 2014.
More to come…
