SNIFFING OUT NEWS FROM AROUND THE RINK

The Toronto Maple Leafs are still having trouble clearing cap space to sign UFA Mike Peca. They would love to move checking forward Matt Stajan, as they have been trying to do since last seasons trade deadline, again at the draft and throughout the off-season but have found no takers.

The Montreal Canadiens are said to be interested in re-acquiring veteran defenseman Patrice Brisebois. According to his agent an offer has been made, but it is too early to speculate on his return to the Habs.

The fallout from the Bruins recent acquisition of Carl Soderberg from the Blues in the Hannu Toivonen trade leaves them with a log jam at center. This is fueling rumors having the B’s moving prospect Ben Walter. It would make more sense for the Bruins to simply move Patrice Bergeron or Phil Kessel to wing to clear the jam at center.

Keep an eye out for the Red Wings looking into taking a chance on Peter Forsberg if he finds little interest from any of his former teams in bringing him back. That is of course if he even plans to come back at all.

It seems as though Rangers GM Glen Sather is playing hardball with forward Sean Avery in his arbitration brief that will be presented today at the hearing. Sather calls Avery “a reasonably effective player as well as a detriment to the team”. These comments have left Avery surprised and angry. Avery is looking for a salary in the neighborhood of $2.6 mil. and Sather is said to be offering $1.3 mil. Gotta love arbitration!

So the brothers Stall were among a group of disorderly bachelor partiers arrested in the morning on Saturday. As it may be an embarrassing incident for the Stall brothers and the league, at least they weren’t caught dog fighting.

Ducks GM Brian Burke may be upset with Kevin Lowe over the offer sheet, but “classless” it isn’t. “Legal” it is. So he should take his lumps, learn his lesson and move on. Being upset is okay, but remember how much time you had to re-sign your player before the offer was made, that is where you failed.

Here’s hoping that the Los Angeles Kings will handle things right with their leading scorer Mike Cammalleri. It would be a shame if they end up with ill feelings on either side going through an arbitration hearing. It would be wise of them to try to avoid such a thing and sign him before it’s too late.

Rumors have the Dallas Stars interested in bringing in Dave Taylor to fill a spot in the front office. It would be a wise move on their part as Taylor brings an excellent track record with him. It does seem weird though to think of Taylor being somewhere other than L.A.

On a personal note: I’m not liking the “new style” uniforms very much. What the hell am I going to do with the 40+ “instant retro” ones hanging in my closet? Oh, well “the times they are a changing” I guess I have to go with the flow. I still love my Quebec Nordiques jersey the best anyway!!