HockeyEastern Conference notes

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• If you missed it, I blogged about the Heatley trade here.
• More Kessel: Great stat from Joe Haggerty’s blog at weei.com: Kessel ranked 116th in power-play time last year. Pretty impressive for a guy who had 36 goals. One of the major reasons Boston wants players in return is that as attractive as high picks can be, they can’t immediately replace the firepower missing from your roster.
• Meanwhile, would the Bruins try to move Michael Ryder (a Claude Julien favourite) to keep Kessel?
• Don’t think the Rangers are in on Kessel. They are also at the cap, so for them, it’s money in/money out. Do you see a $5-million trade match?
• Huge, huge year for Carey Price. Restricted free agent after this season. Canadiens have to know if they can depend on him. In the words of someone who knows, “It’s all about focus.” He has to understand that hockey must be first and foremost.
• Fail to understand why Montreal fans are trashing the Hal Gill signing. The guy just won a Stanley Cup playing important minutes. He needs a structured system to be successful, and that’s definitely Jacques Martin’s way.
• NHL GM on Pronger: “First game against Pittsburgh, he’s going to take a one-game suspension on either Crosby or Malkin. Then, he’ll be in their heads all season.”
• The Islanders looked at what the Lightning did with Steve Stamkos. They will do the exact opposite with John Tavares. The team held its annual golf tournament last Thursday, and his face was not on the poster. (Josh Bailey was the highlighted player.) Went by the Coliseum, and not a photo of Tavares to be seen. They’re going to ease him in as much as possible.
• After Tavares, the most excitement surrounded Dwayne Roloson and Martin Biron. The team feels it will be much more competitive with that duo in goal. Scott Gordon was reluctant to proclaim either man number one, and not even God knows when Rick DiPietro will play. Be interesting to see how the coach uses them, particularly since they have the same agent.
• It didn’t get a ton of attention, but one of the best free agent signings of the summer will be Mike Knuble. The Capitals wanted him badly to play with Alexander Ovechkin. He doesn’t occupy the puck, he goes to the difficult areas and he’s great in the room. He’s also in terrific physical condition.
• John Carlson will be given a legit shot to make the Washington blue-line.
• The Thrashers biggest challenge in signing Ilya Kovalchuk: Does he want to play in Russia?
• I think the Panthers would be in the race for Kessel if the organization wasn’t completely paralyzed by its ownership situation.
• Very, very good summer for the Lightning. They signed a bunch of high-quality guys: Mattias Ohund, Matt Walker, Stephane Veilleux, Kurtis Foster. Alex Tanguay will be a perfect fit. A great learning environment for Victor Hedman. If Mike Smith is healthy, this team could be much, much better. Now, they have to make sure one voice is talking for the organization.
• Great story about Ohlund: He loves to wonder how good he would be at other sports. For example, he would watch an NFL game and ask Trevor Linden or the Sedins, “If I got 20 carries, how many yards would I get?” They’d tell him he’d get hit so hard he wouldn’t last two carries, but he’d be adamant he could get 100. Then, he’d go to a Suns game and say, “If Steve Nash was throwing me passes, how many points do you think I’d score?”
• Carolina is going to trade Anton Babchuk. Aside from that, the Hurricanes are set for the season.

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