James Mirtle of the Globe and Mail: It was leaked the Montreal Canadiens defenseman Andre Markov has a torn ACL. Markov suffered the injury in Game 1 last Friday after taking a hit from Matt Cooke. Markov missed 37 games this season, the Canadiens were 14-20-3 without him, 25-13-7 with him in the lineup.
Pittsburgh Post Gazette: Four days after having surgery to fix a severed tendon on his foot, Jordan Staal took a brief skate yesterday morning. Dan Bylsman continues to say Staal is ‘day-to-day’ and also noted … “We would not be risking anything, in terms of his health or the procedure that he had. He just has to heal from a surgical wound and get back in his boot and be comfortable doing that, so there’s not a risk in terms of weighing if he should play or shouldn’t play.”
Jerry Sullivan of the Buffalo News: Tim Connolly will probably find himself on the trade block this summer, but it could be a difficult move as he’s under contract for 1 more year at $4.5 million, and has a serious injury history. He did put up some decent numbers during the regular season, but did not have a good playoff.
Eric Stephens of the OC Register: There have been no talks yet between Saku Koivu and the Anaheim Ducks. GM Bob Murray does expect to have some talks soon.
Jeff Gordon of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: More talk on the Blues wondering who will be their ‘goalie of the future’. It appears that it’s not Ben Bishop, maybe it will be 2008 2nd round draft pick, Jake Allen. Gordon thinks that if the Blues don’t think it’s Allen, then they need to go after someone this summer. I don’t see how they would give up on Allen already, he was a high pick only 2 years ago. I think they should re-sign Mason, who has played pretty well for them the last couple years, wait out on Allen, and maybe draft another goalie in the first couple rounds this year.
Chris Botta of NYI Point Blank: Options for the Islanders with the 5th overall pick in this years NHL Draft. They could trade down collecting a 2nd and/or 3rd round pick, but staying within the top 10. They could try moving up to the top 3 or 4 if they want Cam Fowler or Erik Gudbranson, but that may not be cost effective. No chance of them moving in to the 1 or 2 spots. Brett Connolly should be available at #5 but there are plenty of questionmarks on him surrounding an injury that caused him to miss the majority of the season. Brandon Gormley is also a strong possibility if Gudbranson and Fowler are off the board.
Gare Joyce of ESPN: Joyce thinks there is a 50-50 chance of Islanders trading their 1st round pick this year. If they do use it, it would most likely be on a defenseman. There is also rumors that Oilers will be selecting Tyler Seguin. Scouts have told Joyce that a scout in Boston was talking about “knowing” that Edmonton was taking Seguin … but one has to wonder if this rumor, was a generated rumor by the Oilers to throw people off.
Dave Stubbs of the Montreal Gazette: Andrei Kostitsyn may be wearing out his welcome in Montreal. His ice time has been drastically cut, seeing 4th line duty. If they find a taker for his $3.25 million salary, they might be inclined to move him, freeing up some much needed cap space, though it’s earier said than done.
