Senators to trade Emery?

Rumour has it that the Ottawa Senators may in fact be close to trading 24-year old goaltender Ray Emery to a Western Conference (apparently, the Los Angeles Kings) team along with forward Patrick Eaves and a prospect coming up from the Sens' farm club in Binghamton (suggested to be Josh Hennessey) in exchange for a goaltender and player.

Kevin Lee from Hockeybuzz, posted this on his blog yesterday and fans are anxiously awaiting to see if it's true or not.
To add more flame to the fire, GM Bryan Murray was reportedly in Binghamton last night to watch the prospect involved in the deal play, again, according to Lee.

Oh boy, this is interesting, is Emery on the way out? Already?!
He led his team to the Cup Final last season, was locked up to a big deal and is still young.

Have the Sens given up on him? Already?!

Interesting indeed,

-BBeR

Tasty Brownie! Kings ink young phenom to 6-year extension among others

The future is now for the Kings

There have been a few contract extensions handed out in the NHL recently, topping the list are the Los Angeles Kings, who signed forward Dustin Brown to a 6-year contract extension today.

The former 13th overall pick from the 2003 draft has 4 goals and 4 assists so far in 11 games with the Kings and has been a star on the rise ever since his definitive entry to the NHL in 2005-2006, putting up 14 and 17 goal seasons since then.
His points total have been on a uprise as well...from 28 to 46, and if his current pace continues, he will finish the season in the 70-point area.

Brown is poised to become a 30-40 goal scorer with huge upside, and he's a mainstay in Los Angeles for at least 6 more years.
All this at such a young age, the 22-year old Ithaca, New York native will turn 23 on November 4th.

Kings GM Dean Lombardi on "Brownie":

Dustin is an integral part of what we are building here with the Kings.
We like how he competes; we like his toughness; and we are very pleased with how his overall game has developed.

"An integral part" is not far off with guys like Mike Cammalleri (10 G, 3 A), sophomore sensation Anze Kopitar (4 G, 8 A) and star Alex Frolov (3 G, 7 A) all destined for superstardom (or at least come close to it).

On defence? They're well equiped with former Hurricanes prospect Jack Johnson (1 G, 1 A), veteran goldie Rob Blake (1 G, 4 A), the dangerous Lubomir Visnovsky (1 G, 7 A) to go along with new faces Brad Stuart (1 G, 2 A), Tom Preissing (0 G, 2 A) and another guy who's been around a while, Jaroslav Modry (0 G, 1 A).

On paper? They're awesome...but the defence has had its own problems this year totally a paltry -14 rating with Modry being the only blueliner in the plus column (+4).

Kings fans are calling for Rob Blake's head because of his shoddy defensive work and inconsistent performance on the attack...Stuart and Preissing are off to slow starts...Johnson is still adapting with Visnovsky and Modry leading the way.

The future is definitely bright in sunny LA, but can the Kings finally pull out of their misery with the younglings and big names picked up this offseason?

Their current 5-6 start could be better, but if you look at last year, it could be worse.

They have the talent, time to fully exploit it...look for the Kings to be serious contenders now or possibly in the near future

Draper stays in Detroit:
The Red Wings have retained former Selke winner Kris Draper, signing the 36-year old to a new 3-year contract that will pay him $1.6 million per season.

Kenny Holland calls Draper an essential part of the team's core:
Kris has been such an important part of this organization's success.
We are fortunate to have secured a player with his leadership qualities and work ethic for the next three seasons.

He has 5 assists to start the season and has put up double digits in goals for the past 4 campaigns.

Minnesota locks up Burns:
Brent Burns is only 22 but already a force on Minnesota's blueline.
The Wild locked him up to a 4-year contract worth about $14.2 million or an average payout of $3.55 million per season.
Minnesota's former 1st round pick is +6 this season and hopes to repeat the +16 rating he put up last year.

I like Doug Risebrough's reasoning when it comes to these big long deals being thrown around:
Long-term contracts are about projection now.
Not about what they'll make, but their ability to earn it and make things happen during the length of the contract.

Panthers sign Cullimore:
The Florida Panthers have reportedly signed defenceman Jassen Cullimore to a 1-year contract including a 2-week conditioning stint in the minors, likely to replace the injured Noah Welch as the team's 7-8 defenceman.

Markov to Russia:
The Danny Markov free-agent saga is officially over...the veteran signed a contract to play in Russia with Dynamo for the upcoming season and TSN reports that his deal includes an out clause that would allow him to come to North America and sign with another team next summer.
Markov was rumoured to be seeking between $2.5 and $3.5 million, but teams like the Boston Bruins and New York Islanders backed out because of salary cap constraints.

-BBeR

Cloutier on waivers, followed by many more...

Los Angeles Kings goaltender and former Vancouver Canuck, Dan Cloutier has been placed on waivers as the team has been unhappy with the veteran goalie ever since they acquired him 2 years ago from the Canucks.

Originally sought for the number one job in LA, the Kings swung a deal and sent a second rounder up north with hopes that the Quebecois native would solve their goaltendings woes that included losing Felix Potvin to the Boston Bruins, their "franchise goalie" Jamie Storr's career, the unorthodox Roman Cechmanek to Europe and even Cristobal Huet...whom they traded in order to acquire Mathieu Garon in 2004.

The Kings goaltending future might have gotten a little brighter with the cutting of Cloutier.

Jason LaBarbera is looking like gold and youngster Jonathan Bernier is being hailed as the second coming of Jamie Storr.

LaBarbera, a former prospect for the New York Rangers, spent the entire 2006-2007 season with the Manchester Monarchs in the American Hockey League and posted elite numbers with an impressive total of 39 wins, a very good 2.20 GAA and an excellent .933 save percentage.

The Kings had been hesitant to recall LaBarbera last season, despite injuries to both Dan Cloutier and Mathieu Garon due to the fact he'd have to clear waivers to be called up or sent down.

So instead the club went down to the ECHL and brought up the short-lived Japanese "named" sensation, Yutaka Fukufuji, minor-league scrub Barry Brust and even went as far as giving 41-year old Sean Burke a crack at stopping a puck again.

But now, with Garon signing with the Edmonton Oilers via free-agency and the cutting loose of the horrendous Dan Cloutier...what? have you forgotten his 2006-2007 line?

Hehe, a W-L record of 6-14-2, a goals against average a tick under 4.00 and a save percentage that makes me cringe at .860%.

Ok, where was I?

Ah, ok, so no more Garon, Cloutier has just been cut loose...that leaves us with two phenomenal youngsters: Jason LaBarbera and, we shouldn't forget Jonathan Bernier, who shone for Team Canada at the Summit Series recently.

So it's now expected that Jason LaBarbera will get the majority of the cookie with Jonathan Bernier popping in for a more than occasional start in the crease as well.

I can already tell that Kings fans are celebrating, there's no doubt that Cloutier definietly lost that spunk he portrayed with the Vancouver Canucks in the pre-lockout era.

Here's the official reason from Kings' GM Dean Lombardi:

The reality is, he hasn’t played for three years.

The only way to really get his rhythm back and to get him where he needs to be is to get him to play.
You see this in baseball all the time, where established pitchers have to do a form of rehab assignments if they lose their fastballs and the only way to get it back – to get totally confident – is to go back to the minors and do it.

Obviously, we gave this a lot of thought. The bottom line is, we thought this was the only way we could get him back to where he was comfortable. Physically, he’s totally healthy. But as we all know with goaltending, a lot of it has to do with his confidence and his state of mind. The only way he was going to get it all together was to play and to play a lot and not have to do it at this level.

So he says *rolls eyes*.

As for the rest, here's an inside look from our buddy Eklund of who's been placed on waivers (NEVER forget the source of this, but then again, why would he lie for something not so important and jeopardize his spectacularly marvelous career as the anonymous hockey blogger?)

Penguins
Deryk Engelland

Hurricanes
Wade Brookbank
Tim Conboy
David Gove
Brandon Nolan

Blue Jackets
Dan Smith
Andrew Murray

Thrashers
Kevin Doell
Jesse Schultz

Capitals
Jason Morgan

Islanders
Steve Regier
Tim Jackman
Kip Brennan
Matthew Spiller
Drew Fata
Joey MacDonald

Ducks
Joe Callahan
Mike Hoffman
Matt Keith
Dan Lacouture

Kings
Brendan Buckley
Petr Kanko
Oleg Tverdovsky
Cloutier, Dan

Stars
Trevor Byrne
Marius Holtet
Toby Petersen

See anyone that would interest your team?

-BBeR

Chris Drury to the Kings?

On Stan Fischler's blog, there is a very interesting little tidbit:

Those close to Chris Drury would not be surprised if this Summer's prize free agent winds up in Los Angeles. They say that CD loves the L.A. area, has a place and friends there...

So, the Sabres would invest to keep Briere, contrary to general belief, and let Drury walk?

I still think Briere's the better player and I would not like to see a player of this caliber (Drury or Briere) end up on a team like this, where hockey is no.3 behind other sports.

Why, just, why can't we hear any rumours of them going to actual hockey cities, where people are crazy about the sport?

Presenting: Jack Johnson

The moment came on Sunday. Kings fans have been waiting for this day since August. Jack Johnson is coming.

The other day Jack Johnson signed a contract with the Los Angeles Kings. He has left Michigan after his sophomore season ended with an 8-5 loss to North Dakota on Saturday. His first game with the Kings will be in San Jose.

Some will tell you JMFJ actually regressed this season because he is so much better than everyone else on the ice. The Kings will welcome his up tempo game. Along with Lubomir Visnovsky and Rob Blake, possibly Richard Petoit, and potentially a free agent as well, the Kings might have a scary good defense next season.

So Kings fans have something to be excited for in these final few weeks. A bright future lies ahead another trying season. The difference from years past is that we can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

The Kings are Coming Around

The Kings have picked up 11 points in their last 7 games, topped off with a come from behind win yesterday against the Anaheim Ducks. The most impressive thing is that the team has done this in the midst of a post-deadline sell-off, and a sidelined Anze Kopitar.

Taking this opportunity to step up has been Mike Cammalleri. Cammalleri now has 31 goals with the two he had last night against Anaheim. He also proclaimed to Kings beat writers this:

"I've said ever since we began rebuilding, or whatever people are calling it, this is not going to take as long as some people think," Cammalleri told Kings beat writers after the Kings defeated Edmonton on Monday night but were eliminated from the playoffs. "You can see the young talent we have here."

Patrick O'Sullivan, who was acquired on draft day from Minnesota, had a career-high 3 points, including the game-winning goal. As the season winds down, the Kings will be looking for O'Sullivan to continue to develop his game which may be followed up by joining the Manchester Monarchs for an AHL playoff run.

The Kings have also gotten contributions from role players such as John Zeiler and Noah Clarke, both of whom are call ups from Manchester, and Raitis Ivanans, who was re-signed yesterday for a one-year extension. Ivanans is the only one who may figure into next year's Kings team, but it is encouraging to see players who don't get much ice time getting chances and being contributors.

The Kings have some cap space this summer, and will use it. Plus, there is another intriguing name who may or may not join the Kings before the end of the season. Kings fans fondly know him as JMFJ.

Looks like Ol' Jeremy is finally finished.

"My body's tired. I'm tired of a lot of certain mentalities that go along with
this game," he said. "A lot of it I induce myself because of stuff I say, but
I'm okay with that. If this happens to be the last year, I'll walk away knowing
I had a pretty darn good career and I can enjoy my life after hockey."

This is what Roenick told Grant Kerr in today's Globe and Mail after being a healthy scratch in the Yotes' game versus the Canucks.

Jeremy Roenick looks like he's ready to retire, and sadly, for he hasn't yet reached the 500-goal mark. He is eight shy of this milestone and with his current sad offensive production, along with his sharp decline, it may not be likely for Roenick or his body, to reach that milestone.

He will likely be known as the guy who just missed the 500-goal mark, such as Sammy Sosa in baseball, who still sits 12 homers shy of the 600-homer mark.

Roenick went from being a decent offensive force with the Flyers and his career went downhill after a downright dissapointing season with the Kings and an even more miserbale one this season with Phoenix.
You know something is wrong with him, as he's stopped dancing on the ice, singing to Michael Landsberg and being open to the media.

It looks like the door is closed on Roenick now.

My morale would decline too if I found out I was traded for nothing to a slumping team (Los Angeles). After a respectable 47 point injury marred 2003-2004 season, it looks like the new NHL isn't mean for ol' Jeremy as he's averaging now mediocre 20 point seasons.

God, I would retire too.

Bleu, Blanc et Rouge.

Brent Sopel headed back to Vancouver

Last offseason, the Kings signed free-agent defenceman Brent Sopel from the Vancouver Canucks.

Not even a year later, he's headed back to the team that had given up on him.

Sopel, 30, was traded to Vancouver about 15 minutes ago per TSN, for a second and fourth round draft pick. He has 4 goals and 19 assists for a total of 23 points this season and has managed to be a +2 on a mediocre Kings team.

He has a good shot and is useful on the powerplay as well, he has collected 7 points on the powerplay this season with 2 goals and 5 assists. Sopel always had the potential to be an upper-tier defenceman but he never really got there which promted the Canucks dealing him away.

And on a side note: TSN reports Bryan Smolinski's trade is for a conditional second round pick and it's safe to say this is all but done now.

Oh, and the Leafs-Habs games is great, Canadiens leading 3-1 heading into second. Check it out on TSN.

Bleu, Blanc et Rouge.

8 scouts last night at Kings-Avs game...

Over at the Denver Post, Terry Frei just reported 8 teams (rumoured to be Chicago, Vancouver, St. Louis, NY Rangers, Dallas, Boston, Columbus and Tampa Bay) were in attendance for last night's Kings-Avalanche game).

The possible shoppings from both teams are believed to be:

Brent Sopel: Los Angeles is rumoured not to want a mountain of players for him, most likely a mid-round draft pick. Sopel can be an affordable option for teams wanting to bolster their blue line. He is also more affordable than Sheldon Souray.

Aaron Miller: Might attract some attention for teams in need of depth...

Ossi Vaananen: With the injury to defenceman Jordan Leopold, Vaananen's chances of being dealt have likely diminished, unless the Avs make a same position swap and trade Vaananen for another defenceman.

Ken Klee: Klee is aging quickly and he has not been as effective this season as he was with Toronto and New Jersey last season. If he is dealt, he will be for at best a mid-late round pick for teams seeking depth.
Don't look for teams to sacrifice much or trade any young players such as New Jersey did (Aleksander Suglobov)last season.

Ian Laperriere: Slight drop-off from last season, Laperriere is a checking centre with a light offensive side.