Ice Scoopz: Tuesday Afternoon

*-> The Monster Jonas Gustavasson has signed with the Toronto Maple Leafs as predicted. The best goalie outside the nhl said one of the main factors was Burkes redeye flight to Sweden to sway the young tender. The deal is worth 810K$ for only a season.

*-> Chris Pronger has decided end his playing career in Philly with the Flyers after signing a 35mil$ 7yr deal.

*-> Sometime this week veteran and future hall of famer Joe Sakic of the Colorado Avalanche will announce his retirement rumor has it.

*-> The Boston Bruins have added goaltending insurance by adding Danny Sabourin for a 1yr.

*-> Jeff Wotwitka has signed with the Dallas Stars. The deal is rumored to be a 2yr 1.3mil$ deal.

Free Agent Frenzy

*-> Craig Anderson has signed with the Colorado Avalanche to a 2 year deal worth 3.6$ per season.

Ice Scoopz: Thursday Morning -> Draft Day Closing In

With less than a day before the draft the rumors continue to swirl around the league. It looks more and more likely that Danny Heatley and quite possibly Vincent Lecavalier will be moved at the draft . Leafs also have stated they would love to jump up in the draft as well.

*-> Brenden Shanahan is reportedly still interested in playing next season but his agent has reported Shanahan has yet to receive an offer from the New Jersey Devils. Shanahan has no targetted teams and would welcome a deal anywhere in the East.

*-> Sergei Fedorov has officially signed in the KHL with Metallurg Magnitogorsk as previosuly reported on Ice Scoopz. All that is know at this time is that Sergei wanted to furfil his fathers dream of the two Fedorov brothers (Fedor and Sergei) playing together on the same team. It is also reported to be a 2 year deal worth 2MIL$ a season.

*-> Aging defenseman Chris Chelios has stated this week that he definatly wants to keep playing for atleast another year now that Detroit has officially stated that he would no longer be part of their plans for the future. Chelios has no hard feelings about his parting with Detroit and will wait to receive offers from other teams. Is it rumored that Chicago one of his former teams is interested in bringing him on as a 6th to help their young mature. Chelios has also said if he does not receive an offer 2 months into the season he would officially retire.

*-> Rumors out of New York claim the Rangers are close to a deal with Ottawa for Danny Heatley. The deal reportedly on the table is for Chris Drury and Bobby Sanguinetti. The Rangers would love to swap Scott Gomez directly but Ottawa is seeking a impact roster player and ether a high draft pick or a blue chip prospect and it is highly unlikely they'd take such a high salary in return. Prospect Derek Stephan and winger Nikolai Zherdev are another two players that keep getting mentioned in the New York media.

Heatley is also hot talk in Colorado where the Avalanche look to rebuild for next season. Heatley would be a great addition as he is signed long term and could be the building point of a franchise. The return subject is where this rumor sorta falls off. The Avalanche are not interested in parting with any picks, prospects or young players other than Marek Svatos. John Michael Liles is another name been thrown about but he alone is not going to get a deal done with Ottawa. Ryan Smyth would be a name Ottawa is interested in and a player who could possibly turn the dressing room around an reunite the troops. Although Smyth told the media last deadline he is happy in Colorado and would not waive his no trade for any team. Would the prospect of coming back home to Canada sway his mind? Especially the nations capital?

Another Heatley rumor out there is the Chicago Blackhawks is highly interested in replacing Martin Havlat with Danny Heatley. Chicago would have to give up one of their 3 stud defensemen in Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook or Cam Barker with only the later in play. Barker who has been slow to develop would be much welcome in the Ottawa organization. Chicago's late 1st round draft pick plus Barker might be able to get a deal done, with hopes Ottawa can land a top line winger via free agency.

*-> Speaking of Marty Havlat, he recently posted on his blog he is enjoying his vacation and hopes to return to Chicago next season. It is his primary choice to resign in Chicago and his agent will continue talks this weekend in Montreal to try and get a deal worked out by July 1st.

*-> Rumors have been out of control this week in Vancouver due to a recent article stating Marian Gaborik has bought a house in the Vancouver area late last week. to add more fuel to the fire the Gaborik and Demetra are best of friends and have been dying to reunite together and Vancouver could be the destination now it looks like the Sedins will walk.

Part two of this rumor is that it is entirely false that Gaborik has purchased a home in Vancouver. Pavol Demetra appeared on a radio interview this week and crushed many Vancouver fans hopes by saying Gaborik has not bought a house and has not dicussed reuniting in vancouver with him although it would be much welcomed.

*-> Tsn reports the San Jose Sharks are shopping Ryan Clowe hard in Montreal today. the leafs have shown interest but San Jose is asking for their 1st round pick a price the Leafs wont pay. The Philly Flyers are also in the hunt but do not want to part with winger Claude Giroux.

*-> Last of all Tsn is also reporting that Jay Bouwmeester's rights are close to being dealt and they are expected to go soon.

The I.R: Friday Morning

*-> Andy Hilbert of the New York Islanders was injured tonight in New York's game agains't the Montreal Canadians. It is was is being described as a rib injury and Hilbert is only expected to miss two games. More on this as it comes.

*-> Tampa Bay's Vincent Lecavalier will miss the remainder of the season after having wrist surgery today to repair a damaged ligament in his right wrist. The procedure was supposed to occur at the end of last season but a shoulder injury delayed the process. He is expected to be healthy way before training camp. He however will be uneligable for Team Canada this spring.

*-> Ryan Smyth of the Colorado Avalanche will miss the remainder of the season after fracturing his right hand in Wednesday's game against the Phoenix Coyotes. Another major injury blow to the Colorado Avalanche after loosing Sakic and Stastny all ready. Sakic is expected to play before the end of the season after he regains strength in his leg again. Smyth is most likely out for Team Canada as well.

Trade! Leopold to Calgary

Jordan Leopold To the Calgary Flames from Colorado. Lawerance Nycholat, and MTL's 2nd round pick and prospect Ryan Wilson.

Ice Scoopz: Wednesday Evening -> Zetterberg Re-Signs!

*-> The Detroit Red Wings have re-signed superstar foward Henrik Zetterberg to a whopping 12 year deal worth roughly 7.2$M next year then 7.7$M for the next 9 years then 1$M the following 3 years. The deal is expected to lower the average cap hit. Zetterberg who turns 29 this October most likely wont finish out his contract as he'll be 40 when it runs out. This is an amazing deal for the Red Wings and this will help keep the key members of the squad signed for long term.

*-> The Ottawa Senator's owner Eugene Melnyk held a press conference today to tell the fans to be patiant and hold on because it's going to get better from here on out. Melnyk doesn't want the fans to give -up on the team and promises this is only a small stumble for the once mighty organization. It was apparent by last nights game agains't the team needs a lot of help and much more effort. The fans consistantly booed the home team throughout the game. Melnyk also went on to say that "anbody who believes this team should be blown up should blow themselves up." He feels they have most of the team and staff in place to succeed. They will not be sellers at the deadline he claims but still expect a few players in and a few players out as he put it. Bryan Murray this week also made a few statements and one of them was he was definatly interested in shopping his UFA's for the right deal. Martin Gerber, Filip Kuba, Chris Neil, and Dean McAmmond all fall under this catagory. Filip Kuba is expected to draw some interest from around the league. The Sens rivals the Montreal Canadiens are slighly interested to bolster their powerplay and the Phoenix Coyotes would also like to add some offense to the backend. Many teams in the West would love to get their hands on Chris Neil. The Anaheim Ducks, the Nashville Predators and the Columbus Blue Jackets would like to add some muscle. .

*-> Martin Gerber's situation has gone from bad to worse as there is next to no interest in him right now. It really looks like he'll finish the season in the minors and will ether take a really hug pay cut or head back to Europe. He may get a second chance before the deadline if another team has some goaltending troubles. Rumor has it is that the Calgary Flames would like to aquire him only if the Sens would take Jim Vandermeer (2.3$MIL/3) or Cory Sarich (3.6$MIL/4) in return. Ottawa's not biting yet.

*-> Nashville has been silently trying to shop Dan Hamhuis for an offensive threat up front. It's been no secret this year that The Pred's haven't had much luck in the goal scoring department. Hamhuis is an affordable 2M$ for 2 seasons so expect a taker. Colorado might be willing to send Marek Svatos in exhange.

*-> Pierre Dagenais of the KHL team Traktor Chelyabinsk has stated he would love to stay with the team and plans to move his family over this summer. Dagenais has said although now there still is a huge gap in the KHL vs NHL quality of play, he says it still blows the AHL out of the water. He expects to see much more NHLer's head over this summer.

*-> The KHL has announced they are debating the possibility of expansion to China and Eastern Europe in the near future. For the time being however the KHL has announced that the Czech team HC Energie Karlovy Vary and Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg from the Russian Supreme League will be joining for the 2009-2010 season. Finland's Karpat, Sweden's Frolunda, and Belarus's Karamin Minsk and Junost Minsk have all been invited to join next season as well. Another piece of big KHL news was revealed Monday which will help the KHL teams develop their players and stop the early loss of prospects to the NHL by adding a junior club to each KHL team. This will greatly help development and help serve as a "CHL" style junior league for the Russians.