The Penguins have re-signed veteran forward Bill Guerin to a one year deal.
The Blues have bought out the contract of D-man Jay McKee who had one yr left on a 4 year $16 million dollar deal.
Sources tell me D-man Mike Weaver along with forward Brad Winchester have Signed 1 yr. deals with St. Louis worth $800,000.
The Penguins are expected to reach out to forward Billy Guerin today and should have a deal in place to re-sign the veteran forward shortly.
An extension for Canucks Goalie Roberto Luongo is all but finished. I'm hearing the extension will be in the 5 year range. Expect Luongo to sign the deal on July first.
Chicago is still trying to re-sign goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin . If they don’t there will obviously be several teams interested including Edmonton, Colorado, T.B., and possibly Toronto.
As we stand right now there is a 50/50 chance Mike Komisarek returns to Montreal.
I’m a little confused as to why Canadians GM Bob Gainey has put the organization in this position heading into July first.
Carolina has until 5:00 eastern to submit Qualifying offers to RFA’s Tuomo Ruutuu, Anton Babchuk, and Jussi Jokinen. As of noon eastern they have not sent out QO’s.
Edmonton continues to have negotiations to re-sign RFA Denis Grebeshkov to a multi-year deal.
Colorado has given no indication that they plan on buying out the contract of Darcy Tucker. A rent report out of Toronto suggested otherwise.
Islanders Owner Charles Wang tells me he wants certaintly by the beginning of the season or he will look to re-locate. Wang says if they don't pass the zoning by October he will begins plans to move the hockey team and says Kansas City is a very realistic option.
Several teams are interested in signing UFA Sergei Zubov including the St. Louis Blues. There is obviously a connection between Zubov and Blues future GM Doug Armstrong who used to manage the Stars Stars. John Davidson is very familiar with Zubov as well going back to their days in NewYork.
Meanwhile Zubov continues to rehab his surgically repaired hip and has been skating in New York for much of the off-season. Teams are hoping to get the veteran D-man at a much smaller price than the $5.3 he was paid last season. Some clubs might be willing to go longer than one year but Zubov would likely have to accept less money under this scenario. He has placed his Dallas home on the market.
Will Wild goaltender Josh Harding receive an offer sheet on Wednesday?
I respect Flames GM Darryl Sutter a lot, but please don’t insult our intelligence by saying Brent’s last name did not factor in his decision to hire the former New Jersey Head Coach. This is an obvious case of nepotism here which is fine. Brent is a quality Head Coach in the NHL. Why deny the obvious?
I get a real kick out of being around Toronto GM Brian Burke. He’s the ultimate showman and there is no question this guy loves the attention he’s getting in Toronto. I’m sure the spotlight given to the Maple Leafs organization played a major role in his pursuit of the Toronto job in the first place. He perfectly understands where he sits on the “Most influential people in Toronto” list and is playing it up big time on the big stage. Long gone are the days of being on the back pages and sitting behind USC and UCLA football in terms of level of importance. I think it’s good for the NHL to have some personality even though I’m confused by his use the tough guy, bully approach. Obviously he made attempts to make moves but when you have such a loyal and sometimes delusional fan base they tend to believe everything that is said. If you say you want Tavares then they expect you to go get him. After creating so much anticipation he struck out at his attempt to steal the show in Montreal. Maybe the fact he was mic’d up for TSN has something to do with it.
A perfect headline following the draft in the Toronto Star should’ve read, “Burke the Big Bad Wolf…He’ll Huff and He’ll Puff and Nothing Goes Down”!
Blues Clues!
Look for Erik Johnson, T.J. Oshie and David Backes to be invited to USA’s Olympic camp in August. The official announcement is expected June 3oth.
Jeff Woywitka is not expecting a qualifying offer by today’s deadline.
Look for Dartmouth University forward Kyle Reeds and St. Louis Bandits Captain Tyler Elbrecht to be invited to the Blues prospect camp.
Some believe the Blues got a steal in 2nd round pick Brett Ponich who plays for the Portland Winter Hawks in the WHL. One person who saw him play more than 20 times this past season says he shows tremendous leadership and might end up being a better D-man than veteran Hal Gill.
I thought it was a real class move for Jarmo Kekalainen to recognize both John Davidson and Brett Hull for their recent election in the Hockey Hall of Fame. I would expect the Blues to honor both JD and Hull as some point this season.
I love the tradition of the all the statues outside of he Bell Centre in Montreal. Whatever happened to that idea in St. Louis?
How many years should the Blues sign Roman Polak to? That’s what the Blues are trying to determine.
B.J. Crombeen has countered a two year offer he received from the Blues. The Crombeen camp expects to hear back from the Blues shortly.
He Blues made the trade to acquire a 7th round pick this year to grab Minnesota High School product Max Tardy who was a 2nd team all-state selection. Blues scout Mike Antonovich know Tardy well and pushed hard to grab him.
More to come,
Andy Strickland
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St Louis Blues Blogger •1380 ESPN • 
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