Leafs trade John Mitchell to New York Rangers

Toronto has dealt current Marlies forward John Mitchell to the New York Rangers, believed to be a late pick in return.

Update: 7th Rounder as per Darren Dreger/TSN

NHL IN PLAY LIST

Here is a list of players in play at the moment

Dustin Penner EDM
Ales Hemsky EDM
JP Dumont NSH
Brad Richards DAL
J-M Liles COL
Chris Neal OTT
Filip Kuba OTT
Chris Campoli OTT
Jason Arnott NJ
Clake MacArthur TOR (many teams want MacArthur, my belief he stays)
Bryan Allen FLA (hearing could be dealt to Carolina for Samsonov)

Habs and Predators bidding on Penner

Montreal and Nashville are currently bidding on Edmonton Power Forward Dustin Penner, Montreal would be very wise to add a player like Penner is it has aspirations of going deeper into the playoffs.

more to come.

NHL Trade Deadline 11:34am update

Zenon Konopa of the NYI is rumored to have been dealt to Anaheim pending trade call for a 2nd rounder

Toronto GM Brian Burke says things are progressing slowly, but confident they will work something out before 3pm deadline.

Filip Kuba to Minnesota rumor swirling out there.

Chris Neil has been receiving significant interest from Vancouver and Philadelphia

Radek Dvorak lone finalized deal so far, FLA sending Dvorak to Atlanta for Bergfors

Leafs looking for #1 Centre - Dangling Kadri

Toronto has made it known that Nazem Kadri is available for a true #1 centre, Burke obviously is pushing the envelope as it doesn't look like Richards will be available on July 1st.

Toronto has Kadri, and (2) 1st Rounders in play in order to obtain the centre the covet, looking at Weiss, Stastny 

Per: Howard Berger of FAN590 Liles could come cheap

according to Howard Berger of the FAN590, Liles could come cheap to Toronto if Colorado ends up dumping salary, expect Burke to wait until final hours to make a pitch.

Weiss will only waive for Leafs

Hearing Toronto is the only destination Stephen Weiss would waive his NTC for.

Names coming up that FLA is interested in are, Grabovski & Tyler Bozak.

Leafs zeroing in on Liles + more

Toronto is making a hard push for John-Michael Liles this morning, Colorado wants one of the Toronto 1st Rounders, Colombus is also looking at Liles.

LA is pursuing Ales Hemsky, looking to add a scorer for their playoff push

Ottawa is expected to deal Filip Kuba and Chris Campoli today, Washington is very interested in Campoli

Clarke MacArthur expected to stay with Leafs, which is a good plan for both

Update coming soon.

Saturday Evening Update

Some things I am hearing tonight:

Leafs are waiting to hear back from Colorado on a second proposition for J-M Liles, also having discussions with Dallas about Brad Richards and determining if it's worth making a push for him.

The Chance of Edmonton moving Ales Hemsky are at about 90%, Edmonton wants Schenn but has to up their offer, Hemsky alone won't do it.

Pittsburgh also continues to talk with Edmonton about Dustin Penner & are quietly looking into Paul Stastny as the latest on Crosby is not good.

Ottawa has a deal in place for what is believed to be Chris Neal heading out, I haven't got a team name yet however, will keep tracking this one.

Saturday Waiver Wire

As NHL teams make small moves to free up Cap Space, the waiver wire continues to grow.

Those Claimed are as follows:

Washington Capitals claimed Marco Sturm off waivers from the Los Angeles Kings 

Philadelphia Flyers claimed defenseman Nick Boynton off waivers from the Blackhawks

Columbus Blue Jackets claimed former Buffalo Sabres captain Craig Rivet off waivers. Columbus defenseman Mike Commodore cleared re-entry waivers.

Three goalies were placed on waivers on Saturday, Blues backup goalie Ty Conklin, Ottawa goalie Pascal Leclaire and Tampa’s newly acquired backup goalie Curtis McElhinney.

Other players waived today:

Carolina’s Brett Carson

Anaheim’s Jason Jaffray

Washington’s D.J. King

New York Islanders' Nathan Lawson &Rob Schremp

Atlanta’s Tim Stapleton.

Report: McCabe deal nearing UPDATE: DONE

Update: Bryan McCabe has been dealt to the New York Rangers for Tim Kennedy and 3rd Round Pick.


as reported in earlier blogs here on hockeyrumorz.blogspot.com, and most recently by @RealKyper on twitter, Bryan McCabe could a NY Ranger as early as today, and he will not use his NTC to put a stop to a deal.

Would be a big pick-up for New York, McCabe is lethal on the PP.

Toronto Source says things heating up.......

Leafs are closing in on something that will change the franchise, and boost them as soon as this year.

while he would not go into exact specifics one can assume he means Paul Stastny & J-M Liles in Colorado (which Burke has been working with for the past few days).

The return while significant, could do nothing but "accelerate the rebuild making this team a contender by next year" <--- not my words so don't shoot me if they don't make the playoffs next year!

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.

Leafs among 4 Teams bidding on Liles/Stastny

Toronto Maple Leaf GM Brian Burke is among 4 teams currently bidding on Avalanche centre Paul Stastny and defenseman J-M Liles, both players are not at practice today and something could go down by later this evening.

Toronto at the moment is the only team in the mix (New York, Montreal, Pittsburgh) that can afford cap room on both players, other teams would have to make side moves to accommodate.

Tuesday Notes / Rumors

Montreal is closing in on a defenseman, and I am told were actually in on Erik Johnson right til the end.

Toronto is also close to acquiring a defenseman, and word is they may be contemplating a larger move that would land Paul Stastny, and the Leafs brass is going over the ups and downs of assuming the 6.6 Stastny has on his deal, Toronto was talking with LA about Brayden Schenn, but I have been told LA wanted much more than Burke was willing to give (including Nazem Kadri)

New Jersey continues to roll and are not expected to tinker much with their current line-up, if they lose a couple this week, I expect Arnott will land somewhere else by the deadline.

Toronto has made forward Colby Armstrong an assistant captain, and he returns this evening vs the Islanders along with Mike Brown, Christian Hanson and Jonas Gustavsson were sent to the Marlies of the AHL.
(Joe Colborne acquired in the Tomas Kaberle trade has 3 goals in 2 games for the Marlies, as well as a shoot-out goal)

The NY Rangers are involved in serious talks with Florida about obtaining Bryan McCabe, Florida is close to blowing it up after being on the losing end so often in recent weeks, Montreal also has interest in McCabe.

little Schenn back on the radar

Brayden Schenn can be re-added to the Leafs radar, talks subsided while the Kaberle deal got worked out, Toronto now has more than enough asset wise to acquire Brayden Schenn.

and perhaps a freudian slip by Burke at the Kaberle Presser mentioning how well Brayden has been playing.

Keep focused with us here folks, exciting times!

The Parise Scenario

Leafs in a position for Offer Sheet now.

we all know Brian Burke loves his US born players, and I have been told that IF Toronto is not wowed by a deal involving their 1st/2nd/3rd rounder ie. able to pry Schenn from LA or Hodgson from Vancouver, they will put in the offer sheet on Zach Parise on July 1st (if not re-signed, and it looks like Parise isn't keen on remaining a Devil). An Offer sheet on Parise would cost a 1st/2nd & 3rd, and Toronto has the available cap space to make sure the Devils can not match, I would trade a 1st/2nd/3rd for Parise, any GM would.

Toronto, more moves on the horizon

speaking with a few different sources from the Toronto side of things, it looks more like the 3rd rounder is the one involved with LA now, and Burke is also talking to Boston about re-acquiring it's 1st in this years draft from the Kessel deal, so is anyone else as confused as I am? haha.

I'll keep the updates coming more in the day tomorrow.

I am following a few different things right now including Ottawa talking with Montreal about Kovalev.

Beauchemin dealt to Ducks, Lupul to Toronto

Back to Anaheim

as I mentioned earlier in my morning blog, Brian Burke was fielding many calls on Francois Beauchemin, and Anaheim upped the ante with what looks like a pretty good return (more than I expected the Leafs to get) for Beauchemin.

Toronto will receive 27 year old forward Joffrey Lupul, Defenseman Prospect Jake Gardiner and a conditional 4th round pick in the 2013 entry draft.


Lupul gives Toronto a much needed boost at forward, a former #7th overall pick, Lupul has 5 goals and 8 assists this year w/Anaheim and will look for a boost heading to Toronto who could use it.

The 20 year old Jake Gardiner was the Ducks top defensive prospect and he currently has 30 points in 30 games for the University of Wisconsin (7 goals, 23 assists)

a new Leaf

Anaheim will be counting on Beauchemin to return to his old form to stabilize their blueline.

I think Brian Burke does very well here, I expected a 3rd rounder + possibly mid level prospect and Mr. Burke pulled out a scoring forward, top defensive prospect and conditional 4th rounder.

Very well done, that is the first domino to fall in the NHL deadline festivities, who's NEXT?