Things have certainly been interesting for the last couple of days. Antti Niemi has finally found a team willing to take him on, which is kind of surprising since Philly, SJ, NYI, Ottawa and Edmonton had some long lasting questions to be answered in net. Edmonton is in particularly good shape since their goaltender showed he’s all ready for the new season. The Bulin Wall that almost was. A shaman once said that drunk driving cures back issues. At least now he has time to focus for 30 days. A certain rival team has struggled to sign the anointed one, namely Carrey Price which is even more surprising than Niemi’s homelessness. They dealt Halak, so a sane person would think that he would repay them by signing whatever deal they threw at him, even if it was a bag of peanuts. But, the player, or rather his agent realized his position of power being the only true starting goalie they had and stalled the deal. Way to go Habs, great judging of character. Petty rivalry jabs aside, Ilya Kovalchuk saga has finally come to an end. One can really feel that the start of the season is almost upon us, especially with hell freezing over.

But, all is not over, or so it would seem. Word is, NJ is actively shopping Travis Zajac, and it’s no surprise. With a new deal, which has been repaired to suit the needs of the now ballsy NHL and with a slightly less obvious circumvention of the cap the Devils got their man. But with him might come a high price tag. 6.650.000 cap hit aside, this also means that the NHL might take further action to penalize the team that so blatantly tried to cheat. I’ll forget Roberto Luongo, Marian Hossa and Chris Pronger for a moment and try to focus on the really important stuff. If there indeed is a cap penalty in the Devils future Travis Zajac could be really useful for the Leafs, I just don’t see a way to get it done. Kaberle sure as hell won’t be in the deal cause NJ is looking to offload cash, not bring in 2 mil. more. And if Kabby’s not in the deal, the question of return value is raised. What could we possibly offer to NJ for Zajac? Bozak plus Caputi. Could work, but it’s a stretch.

Savard rumors haven’t exactly receded either. Why don’t we get him? It’s still a valid question, especially with Kaberle’s dad all packed in the newspapers. The answer would be rather simple. Burke does not see Savard as a vital rebuilding cog, not with his advanced years and concussion issue. The skill level has never been a question. There was also never any doubt that Savard would instantly help this team a lot. But is it smart in the long run? Probably not. As far as this writer is concerned, let’s give a decent run to our young guys, Bozak and Kadri. If all else fails, there’s always next year’s free agent crop. Brad Richards, Patrice Bergeron, Alexander Semin, Michal Handzus and Tim Connolly. Not a bad bunch. I for one don’t want to wait, but I also don’t want for us to hastily trade our assets for a guy that is on a  downswing of his career, as good as he might be. If we could get him cheap, as a kind of salary dump on Boston’s part, I’m fine by it. Like a Savard Kaberle swap of some sort. But I doubt that would happen, since Marco Sturm is on long term IR which reduces Boston’s cap woes at least for now. Also, Peter Chiarelli would really look bad if he traded Savard just after his no trade clause kicked in. So, that door is pretty much closed.

Everything is pretty much set, the pieces are in place. It’s time to get moving, enough of the boring trade rumors which lead to frustration, it’s time to get ready for training camp. To hell with all the Zajacs, Savards and Ryans. I for one can’t wait for Kadri. He has gotten much bigger and stronger (15 pounds and counting) while keeping his speed and stride. That’s pretty much everything the management wanted him to do, and if he plays like he did in last year’s camp, we’re in for a treat.

Mislav “Xterratu” Jantoljak