Thursday, April 23, 2009

NHL and Hockey Rumors for April 24, 2009

In a press conference Thursday, Montreal Canadiens GM Bob Gainey lashed out at Tampa Bay Lightning GM Brian Lawton for releasing the names of the players involved in a possible deal for Vincent Lecavalier. "The second half of our season was when things started to go off course and I felt the first place was when we had discussions with Tampa Bay. We had an agreement with them that I got a call early in January with a list of names from their team that they wanted to talk about, and those players ended up public because they used those names to take them to other teams to see if they could create a different trade for Vincent Lecavalier," Gainey said. "I think it was disgraceful that Josh Gorges and Tomas Plekanec and Chris Higgins have to read that stuff." Brochu's take: Lawton has denied all the speculation. It's going to be interesting in Montreal this summer, as there could be possibly a new owner, GM, coach and roster. Source

Speculation has started again about another NHL team in the Greater Toronto Area, with former player Kevin Maguire leading a group of business executives in a meeting with NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly. A Globe and Mail story is reporting that Daly told the Vaughn, Ontario group that the NHL is not interested in expansion or relocation at this moment. Brochu's take: This should be the biggest no-brainer in the world, but as long as Gary Bettman is in charge, we won't see another team in Toronto.

The San Jose Sharks have signed free agent Kevin Henderson to an entry-level contract. Henderson has spent the past two seasons with the University of New Brunswick in the CIS. Source

Look for my European update sometime later this week, it will highlight players from Europe that are rumored to be signing with NHL teams.

2 comments:

SouthpawCanuck said...

It was Brian Lawton fault that Bob had to fire Guy Carbonneau too, right?

Give me a break.

Brochu said...

Exactly, Ian. Gainey just sounded like he needed a scapegoat.