Just wanted to jump on real quick, and I will write a fresher blog later on with more specifics, I promise.

But a lot’s going on here as far as trade talk. Basically, there’s a lot of players available falling into two major categories — teams are trying to unload marginal players with big salaries and teams are trying to unload top players whose contracts are up this year or next that warrant big raises but likely can’t be squeezed under the current team’s salary cap — especially if it goes down in future years.

I’ll throw names up later, and yes, the Wild is in on a lot of this.

Just got done talking with Chuck Fletcher, who attended his second Board of Governors meeting in history. He said he’s got so many names bouncing around his head, he needs to sit down, throw them around with the staff and “sort it out.”

As usual this time of year, there’s a lot more talk than action, and as Toronto GM Brian Burke said, “Many teams are being unreasonable” as far as asking prices. Fletcher said like it always does, he bets it comes right down to Friday’s Draft.

Most teams wait to the last second to get the very highest offer they can get. So essentially, somebody needs to get the ball rolling. Like the Gov. of California, I’ll be back.

As for other stuff, multiple sources told me this morning Mssr. Jacques Lemaire will be one of Mike Babcock’s assistants for Team Canada in the Olympics. The others are Lindy Ruff and Ken Hitchcock, both of whom I got to spend some time with today. Ruff, the Buffalo coach, used to be the Panthers’ assistant coach, and I reminded him that he’s been there so long, it was 1997 in the Marlins press box when I was writing he was leaving Florida to take the Buffalo job. He’s currently the NHL’s longest-tenured coach.

Anyways, Lemaire will be at tomorrow’s Team Canada presser.

Some funny sights today:

1) Hitchcock was waiting for Philly’s Ed Snider to grab a coffee. When Snider saw the horde of press waiting at the top of the staircase for the Board of Gov’s meeting to let loose, he faked a phone call until he found Hitch.

2) Len Barrie and Oren Koules, the two Tampa owners who are reportedly at each other’s throats one year after buying the team, walked up the stairs together clearly just for the cameras. They didn’t stop, however, then went off on their separate ways.

3) Tons of nervous prospects in the lobby waiting for initial interviews or re-interviews with teams. The Wild’s one of a handful of teams based in this current hotel, so you can bet a lot of them were to meet with Minnesota. Some included Omaha center Louis Leblanc, the Harvard bound talent, and Erie’s Ryan O’Reilly. This isn’t abnormal. Teams meet with several players at this late stage, so it definitely isn’t a sign of whom the Wild’s taking. 

OK, like I said, I’ll be back later with more specifics after I do some more reporting.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 24th, 2009 at 4:08 pm and is filed under Chuck Fletcher, Jacques Lemaire, NHL Draft. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.