I wish I could get more into the NHL draft. It all seems so speculative. You won't know which teams won the draft for years. It does seem fairly certain Evgeni Malkin isn't getting traded to the Kings for a first-round pick. I have no idea why that rumor picked up so much traction since it seems pretty crazy for the Penguins. If they wanted to trade the guy who carried the team when Sidney Crosby went down, they could probably get some more NHL-ready talent. Alanah takes some nice shots at Bruce Garrioch, the source of the rumor. I don't know Garrioch's track record, but I have to say, I love me some NHL rumors, so I always enjoy Garrioch. Like, do I believe the Canucks would trade both Sedins? Not really. But it's fun to consider; a guilty pleasure.
Also, while I don't watch a ton of Western Conference hockey, my general understanding is the Sedins are not conjoined twins. Is that correct? Could they be traded to separate teams or could the Canucks keep one? Is that considered poor etiquette with twins?
George Richards updated his post on Panthers team president Michael Yormark (see yesterday).
Also, watching ESPN this morning, there's no mention of the NHL draft being tonight and tomorrow. The NHL trying to get rid of Rangers' ownership? That gets a mention from MIKE AND MIKE. I like to think somewhere in Toronto a junior NHL executive is sitting around thinking 'Gee. This intra-league litigation sure does test well. We need more of it.'

I don't know if anyone in the NHL head office is actively looking for a new project, but if anyone is, he should look into boomerang trades (where an NHL team trades a player away, only for the player to boomerang back in the off-season). Vinny Prospal is the latest boomerang, with the Flyers trading Prospal's rights back to the Lightning. Flyers GM Paul Holmgren admits he had an understanding with Prospal:

"Right after we made the trade [in February] when I talked to him, he let me know he wasn't very happy. We talked about it and what I told him was, 'You scratch my back I'll scratch yours,'"

Somehow I don't think Holmgren and Prospal were the only two people in the transaction with this understanding. These kinds of boomerang deals are so annoying because it allows teams to trade players based on personal relationships since the dealing team is only losing the use of a player for the final months of a presumably playoffless season. If you don't have to worry too much about what you're getting back, it's going to change how you deal a player. Although, to be fair, Tampa got defensive prospect Alexandre Picard for the Prospal rental. But it's something the NHL might want to look at. It looks awful.
George Richards has a great story on his blog where one of the Panther executives who didn't show up to the press conference for new coach Peter DeBoer was right there for a promotion where someone painted their bedroom Panther colors. Which pretty much explains the success of the Panthers over the years.
UPDATE: The post is no longer online. I emailed George Richards to ask what happened.
UPDATE, part II: George decided to pull the post because he didn't get the executive's side of things. Sounds fair to me.
Also, while we don't know what the Penguins have offered Marian Hossa, according to Hossa's agent, it's not $50-52 million over seven years. I hope the Penguins aren't seriously considering a contract that long. Hossa will be 36 at the end of a seven-year deal. That's a lot of money to tie up in a player that old.
Finally, Scott Moore, the executive director of CBC sports, has a great post recapping the agita of the HOCKEY NIGHT IN CANADA theme song debacle. I had no horse in the race. If it was up to me, the HNIC song would be the theme to DIFF'RENT STROKES with new lyrics sung by George Clinton.

Unrestricted free agent Ryan Malone is a smart guy. Yesterday, there were reports the Penguins were going to trade his negotiating rights to the Blue Jackets. All I could think was 'Why would anyone want to play for Columbus?' Especially when the only Columbus player worth being on a line with, Rick Nash, is a left wing, like Malone.
Malone told teams not to give up any players in a trade for his rights and to wait for him to hit the market. Obviously, this takes the puck off of Pittsburgh's stick. They're not going to get anything for Malone now. Whatever the Penguins offered him must be pretty low. Malone must be pretty mad to go out of his way to make sure the Penguins get absolutely nothing for him.
I was fascinated by the Blue Jacket interest in Malone, though, because while Malone is still very young, to this point, he's similar to Todd Marchant, perhaps with a little bit more of a scoring touch or perhaps more the result of playing with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. Malone had a huge season last year, as Marchant had a huge one right before he signed with Columbus. But with no complementary players, Marchant pretty much rotted in Ohio. I like to think Malone took note of that.
Also, congratulations to the San Jose Sharks who finally have a player in the Hockey Hall of Fame. I totally forgot Igor Larionov had played there. Congratulations to Larionov also.

Yesterday, I mentioned the Caps are low-balling restricted free agent defenseman Mike Green. Today, Tarik El-Bashir reports the Caps will match any offer sheets Green gets. In other words, the Caps are going to let another team negotiate an inflated contract with one of the key components of their future, rather than just sitting down with Green and giving him a fair offer. I don't get it. Unless Green doesn't want to be in Washington for some reason and is asking for outrageous money. Or the Capitals are very lazy and are pulling some sort of Tom Sawyer fence-paint move.
Over on the LA Kings site, they're asking about the best mustache in Kings history. Jean Lefebvre jumps in with some of the best mustaches in Flames history. And suddenly, I don't want to shave for work today.
Finally, Mike Heika has a very interesting piece on what goes into moving a minor league hockey team. The Stars are moving their AHL presence to Austin and they have to a) find a team to move to Austin to be their affiliate and b) decide where to put their prospects in the interim. It's a very thorough look at something I never really thought about before.

Alexei Yashin returning to the Islanders? Would anyone be happy with that? Would the Isles be happy to have him back in the locker room? Would GM Garth Snow be happy to be paying Yashin even more money on top of what Yashin got in his buyout? Would Yashin enjoy being the focus of Isle Nation hatred again?
Yashin must still be dating Carol Alt and looking to come home so he can actually see her. That's the only way this makes sense.
By the way. The lovely Ms. Alt is a product of Flushing, Queens. I knew there was something I liked about her.
Also, Larry Brooks looked at NHL officiating in light of the NBA's recent controversies. Brooks says that while the Penguins weren't given a free ride into the finals, the amount of calls and non-calls they got during the playoffs makes everything look a little dodgy, even if it really wasn't.
Brooks also says the Capitals are low-balling defenseman Mike Green, which seems insane to me. How many nights was Green the only Cap scoring option whose name wasn't Ovechkin? Just give him decent money and lock him down.
Speaking of signing important players, Joe Starkey wonders if the Penguins, should they sign Marian Hossa, will have enough space to hold onto Evgeni Malkin. Which is pretty funny, since the Penguins were one of the NHL teams asking for a salary cap so they could afford to hold onto their young talent. I suspect Pittsburgh will manage to work something out. I don't think Malkin would be one of the first players overboard to make room for Hossa.