As you would imagine, the agent for Brendan Shanahan received calls from several NHL GM's today after Shanahan announced he is back on the open market.
In reality the entire process is starting all over again for the future Hall of Famer who had been telling people all along of his desire to remain in New York City.
I've been told New Jersey or Philadelphia continues to be Shanahan's destination of choice if the Rangers failed to work out.
So here we are again.....
Shanahan's agent Rick Curran had a variety of conversations with a number of NHL team's today although no formal offers were made.
Nothing more than preliminary discussions took place today.
You can include the St. Louis Blues as one of the teams that picked up the phone and contacted Shanahan's people this morning.
If you recall, I recently wrote that Blues Chairman Dave Checketts phoned Shanahan a few weeks ago and personally discussed the idea of the former 50 goal scorer returning to St. Louis.
All Shanahan and his camp can and will do right now is just sit back and listen. I was told to expect nothing to happen until after the weekend.
By the way I also wrote a few weeks back that a source very close to Shanahan told me there was no chance he would play hockey in St. Louis this season.
I just got off the phone with the same source who tells me I can throw that statement out the window now because the entire situation has changed.
This doesn't mean Shanahan will be booking a flight for St. Louis anytime soon, but it does say anything is possible and not to rule out any scenario.
Rink Rats!!!
Sources close to Marian Hossa and Marian Gaborik tell me the two plan to make themselves a package deal come July first. The two are the best of friends and are hopeful they'll be playing together after this season.
A major reason Hossa elected to turn down millions of dollars from Pittsburgh and take the one year offer from Detroit is to not only put himself in position to win a Cup, but to become a UFA at the same time Gaborik enters the open market.
Stay tuned on this one.....
Story from Earlier......
Multiple sources tell me Tampa Bay Co-Owners Len Barrie and Oren Koules must pay a substantial amount of money to former Lightning owner Bill Davidson by what is believed to be a January 2009 deadline or Davidson will once again take over the franchise.
Sources say the bill staring Barrie and Koules in the face is in the neighborhood of six to ten million dollars.
I think it's important to point out that Tampa Bay Ownership deny this to be the case.
If the current Owners fail to meet the deadline I’m told Davidson would then have the right to search for new Owners for the franchise.
Obviously Davidson could grant the current group an extension if he so chooses.
Barrie and company have certainly made some interesting moves since taking over the franchise including trading D-man Dan Boyle to San Jose while new Head Coach Barry Melrose was unhappily left out of the loop.
There is talk fluttering around that the former ESPN analyst could already be on the hot seat.
Melrose has the cushion of a three year contract worth one million per season to rest on.
With that being said it appears there are a whole lot of chiefs and not enough Indians involved in running the Tampa Bay franchise.
From Barrie, Koules, General Manager Brian Lawton, and Greg Malone it seems everyone wants a hand in the decision making process.
Malone by the way is the father or Ryan who was signed just three days after his father was hired last summer.
The team made hockey people scratch their heads a few days ago when the team claimed Matt Pettinger off waivers from the Vancouver Cancuks. It should be pointed out that Pettinger is a minority partner with Barrie in the Bear Mountain Golf resort in Voctoria.
The Lightning have been as active as any club in the league in trying to making deals ever since the puck dropped for training camp this fall.
The new Owners did a nice job of creating a buzz and headlines after taking over the Lightning with all the moving and shaking during the summer.
Time will tell if they’ll be creating headlines for much different reasons in the near future.
Blues Buzz!
Keith Tkachuk was given the day off on Wednesday because he was under the weather. He should be good to go Thursday vs. Carolina.
Tkachuk will remain a center Thursday night playing with Paul Kariya and David Backes.
D.J. King is expected to have his shoulder operated on in Birmingham, Alabama by the respected Dr. James Andrews on Thursday.
T.J Oshie and Patrik Berglund have stolen all the headlines so far but D-man Roman Polak has been as consistent as any rookie on the roster. The Blues deserve recognition for being patient and bringing this kid along the right way.
How excited will Blues fans be to see Oshie, Berglund, and David Perron playing together Thursday against Carolina?
Perron has struggled finding the back of the net this season and has put in extra film work with assistant coach Ray Bennett. For those who lose patience with Perron may need to be reminded he’s only 20 years old.
I mentioned in my last story how impressive former first round pick Ian Cole has been thus far this season for Notre Dame. I failed to mention Michigan Sophomore and former 2nd rounder Aaron Palushaj has 10 points in six games including five goals.
Don’t rule out the possibility of Palushaj signing an NHL contract at the conclusion of the Wolverines season. The Blues love this kid who will no doubt play in the NHL, possibly as soon as next year.
Alex Pietrangelo likely won’t play until the team leaves for the west coast next week. He practiced for the first time in a few weeks on Wednesday.
The Blues alumni will skate against the Blackhawks alumni Thursday night at the Seven Bridges Ice Arena in Chicago. The event helps kick off the Nike Bauer Ice Hockey Tournament this weekend. Former Blues Al MacInnis and Pierre Turgeon will join Bruce Affleck, Jeff Brown, and Bob Plager among others for the Blues.
The Bud Sports production department which produces Blues hockey radio broadcasts is shutting down operations in January. Bud Sports has produced both Blues hockey and Cardinals Baseball for as long as I can remember. Word is the Blues will now control the broadcasts in house.
The St. Louis Sports Commission is aggressively trying to bring the NCAA Ice Breaker Invitational to St. Louis in the very near future.
The Ice Breaker hockey Tournament kicks off the NCAA season every year and includes the top NCAA programs in the country. This season the Tournament was held in Boston, Massachusetts.
Goaltender Ben Bishop is taking online courses in an effort to complete his Business Management degree from the University of Maine. He is less than 20 credits shy of finishing.
Did you know Blues Head Coach Andy Murray coached former Blues D-man Bruce Affleck in Switzerland several years ago? Murray tells me Affleck was the best player in the league.
The Blues are as active as any organization in the league in providing promotions that allow fans to purchase tickets at discounted prices. The Blues had meetings on Wednesday to discuss some exciting new promotions to be announced in the near future.
More to come,
Andy Strickland
[email protected] 
St Louis Blues Blogger •1380 ESPN • 
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