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As Friday night approaches it is indeed a much quieter day than anticipated. There is a general feeling that teams are going to wait until after Saturday's games. That being said it only takes one trade here to set the world in motion..
Updated Update: The Oilers have signed Hemsky to a 2 year $10 Million dollar deal
UPDATE: The Preds have traded Smithson to Florida for a 6th round pick. this HAS to be a precursor of something else. There is simply no reason to make this trade right now unless something else was up..stay tuned
Here are some updates on some key players
On Grabovski...
As I wrote about yesterday (feels like a week ago) it appears Hemsky may be staying in Edmonton for a discount...If that is the case, and with Carter now having been moved, the value for Grabovski may actually be higher than anticipated. I have heard interest from Colorado, Carolina, and Chicago..I would not be surprised to see Nashville get in as well. If Brian Burke can make a move for prospects the feeling is he could take the $5M that would go to Grabo and possibly use it for Nash at the draft...
On Ryan Malone...
Hearing the Penguins are seriously interested in Ryan Malone and just need to figure out the Cap hit and to the best they can decipher what this season holds for Crosby. It is quite the bind the Pens are in, but as I wrote previously, the only team Malone would waive his No trade to play for would be Pittsburgh...and the Pens really want him. He would be a great fit right now going into the playoffs.
On Derek Roy...
We will have to what and see what happens over the Sabres next few games, but I have heard Nashville has serious interest in Derek Roy and it makes some sense that they would. The Preds have decided against Hemsky but are still looking for a forward who can help them not only in these playoffs but moving forward.
On Nabokov...
If I were to bet on a player that would be moved right at 3pm and we wouldn't hear about until a few hours later it would be Nabokov...The Flyers and Leafs are currently kicking tires, but I have also heard that Chicago may not be far behind, and I have even heard Ottawa has some interest should Anderson's injury not heal as planned...
On Andrei Kostitsyn....
Another player whose value has increased here is Andrei Kostitsyn. Calgary may be the most likely spot as of now, Nashville, Florida, NJ, and Colorado are also rumored to have some interest..
On Steve Ott...
You won't find many teams who wouldn't love to grab Ott, but three teams Vancouver, Toronto, and St. Louis are leading the charge should Ott be available...
and finally...Your daily Nash-up
There has not been much movement on Nash today except to say the teams who are talking to Columbus know what they need to get and there is a possibility we could see San Jose make a move to acquire a prospect or two to fit the bill... There was some talk an hour or so ago of the Flames getting in on Nash, but so far that appears extremely preliminary. In my opinion the Sharks are still the best bet, but there is also talk that the Canucks and even the Kings haven't ruled out Nash completely...I can't imagine how the Kings could make this work, but I have it from several sources they didn't completely abandon the hunt. The Rangers aren't in it as of now...but enough people out there feel they will try and make an offer at some point...
I updated 20 players on the Rumor Chart this afternoon...along with the players noted I updated...Whitney, Raymond, Zidlicky, Parise, Penner, Parenteau, Hemsky, Hagman, Campoli, Burish, Bernier, Bryan Allen, and Dustin Brown,
The Trade Deadline Rumor Chart is now live. Today I updated 20 players . The Rumor Chart is more or less my predictions as to where these players are likely to be moved based on all the conversations and rumors I hear through my research. Your $20 a year not only helps to keep the site going, it also gives you full access to the site and enables us to turn of most advertising and auto-play videos. Thanks for your amazing support!
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