Latest Buzz around the Rumor Mill

as Per Darren Dreger of TSN: Ottawa talking with Chris Phillips about an extension, but an 11th hour deal on Monday still not out of the question.

from what I have heard, Washington has interest, Montreal DID have interest, but latest acquisition of Sopel has tempered that interest a bit.

Toronto continues to search for a D Man, and talks with Colorado continue, Toronto is trying to pry Stastny away in the discussions as well as J-M Liles, but it will be expensive, and Burke may balk at the end, we will continue to watch this.

Heard from a very good source that Pittsburgh is VERY interested in Dustin Penner from Edmonton, the New York Rangers also have interest there, and New York is knocking down Florida's door in an attempt to obtain Bryan McCabe.

Around the NHL - Thursday Rumors

Toronto continues to work things out with Boston, the hold right now is on Kaberle signing a 2-3 year term with the B's, this could be a snag, will stay on this one, something could happen today, or not at all, the Kaberle ordeal is sketchy, I think he's torn between leaving and going.

Montreal acquired seldom used defeseman Paul Mara from the Anaheim Ducks earlier today, a depth move for the Habs

J.S. Giguere came down with a "lower body injury" last evening during the 1st period of the Leafs win over Buffalo, this could potentially hinder any trade talks the Leafs have going with Giguere.

Ian White (Carolina) is close to being dealt, Montreal or Vancouver are the likely destinations

One source telling me the Leafs may wait until after the Saturday night game with Ottawa to see if they make ground on the 8th playoff spot, being just 6 points out now with the teams ahead of them spiralling has changed the philosophy slightly, a win Saturday night combined with losses for the eastern teams ahead of them would result in being just 4 points out, which could mean Kaberle stays.

Wednesday NHL Rumors

Happy Hump Day everyone, here are some rumors floating around the NHL at the moment

Edmonton has been receiving a few offers for Ales Hemsky, nothing of note so far though, have heard the offers are not "earth shattering" so I expect the Oilers to hold out on a decent return.

Dustin Penner will likely be wearing a different jersey within the next 3 weeks, have been told Montreal, Toronto, Boston and Los Angeles are looking at him.

Speaking of Toronto, Brian Burke has been fielding several calls from teams about Beauchemin, and the list is growing of possible suitors, which will help Toronto in negotiating leverage, Burke has so far been trying to leverage a package deal out of teams in an effort to make a huge impact in one deal.

Word out of Montreal is that Hal Gill and a few others are not pleased with P.K. Subbans actions, most recently with Gill calling Subban "an a**hole" in front of reporters for Subban leaving his equipment scattered all over the dressing for the staff to pick up, P.K. has not made a very good impression on veterans in the league in his first year.

Crosby & Malkin both out due to injury

Sidney Crosby is still out with concussion symptoms, and the Penguins have to be VERY worried about their future star players, Malkin has both a torn MCL & ACL and requires surgery, and Sidney has recently been put on LTIR, Crosby was putting together one of those special seasons that only come around every decade and it's a shame it was cut down by another head hit.

More later on, ZIP IT IN AND ZIP IT OUT

Monday Morning Musings

Montreal is "very interested" in Kaberle now according to Pierre LeBrun of ESPN, can any Toronto fans see the Leafs trading Kabs to such a close rival?

Phil Kessel:

Now, I wanted to sound off on this topic a bit this morning as I have seasons tickets and I watch Phil quite a bit.

I get the frustration, from both sides, Wilson and Kessel, it comes from NOT WORKING HARD ENOUGH, that's about as clear I can make it, I go to the practices sometimes @ the MC Centre, attend as many home games as I can and it is clear to me that Phil Kessel's problem is he does not work hard enough to be that 40 goal man he is expected to be, perhaps Wilson should not be throwing Kessel under the bus with his comments but Kessel is supposed to be Wilson's meal ticket, and when your star player isn't prepared to work hard enough to achieve what needs to be achieved, it sets a poor example for the other guys on the bench working their tails off just to be a 15-20 goal man or less!

I would not be surprised in the least if some of the other players were ticked off with his work ethic, lets face it, the Toronto Maple Leafs are not a team with a plethora of talent and the one guy that is supposed to be, is taking it for granted, skill only gets you so far Mr. Kessel, like everything else in this world, you have to work your a** off if you want to be the best you can be.

Montreal looking at Iginla, Forsberg to sign SOON

according to Andy Strickland @ TrueHockey.com, the Montreal Canadiens have let it be known they are very interested in Jerome Iginla of the Calgary Flames, and would like to be first in line if they decide to go in that direction, it would be hard not to include Montreal in Cup talk if they were able to acquire Iggy.

Expect an announcement to come very soon with Peter Forsberg signing a deal with the Colorado Avalanche, all signs point to his heel being good to go, and only conditioning is holding him back until he his is ready.

Also a quick note:

The rumors about Erik Johnson being on the block with St. Louis are NOT true, they will not deal Erik Johnson and this one was obviously drawn from a hat.