Slim pickin's

Hard to find that NHL blockbuster this year

The league's general managers met in Florida this week to discuss rule changes and lay groundwork for the anticipated glut of trades around the March 19 deadline. While every GM has his price, most deals are likely to be fixer-uppers rather than grand moves like Colorado made with stars Theo Fleury, Ray Bourque and Rob Blake the past three seasons.

Like Blake in 2001, there are several premier unrestricted free agents this year -- Boston's Bill Guerin, Chicago's Tony Amonte and San Jose's Teemu Selanne of San Jose among them -- but look for these players to stay put with their teams.

As Philadelphia GM Bob Clarke told me, instead of leasing these kinds of players at the deadline, top-tier teams will treat their own unrestricteds as rentals, keeping them for a playoff push and worrying about contracts later.

Have goalie, will trade

With Toronto goalie Curtis Joseph -- another potential unrestricted free agent -- out until mid-April with a broken finger, Maple Leafs assistant GM Bill Watters has been inundated by calls from teams looking to dump their backups. Toronto doesn't want to break up its club, but the asking price for under-used goalies has been steep.

Montreal asked for feisty Darcy Tucker in exchange for backup Jeff Hackett, while Anaheim was looking at Nik Antropov -- until he got injured -- for Steve Shields. Goalies Trevor Kidd of Florida and Los Angeles property Stephane Fiset also might interest Toronto, which was close to acquiring Calgary veteran Mike Vernon until Joseph's freak mishap. The Leafs hope to re-sign Joseph, having offered as much as $8 million annually in a multi-year deal.

Rockin' Robyn

Promising Calgary defenseman Robyn Regehr got into a minor scrap with teammate Marc Savard in training camp, and that's about the only time he's hit anybody this season. Flames coach Greg Gilbert has seen enough.

Last week he scratched the 21-year-old Regehr for two games and then dressed him as part of a seven-man group to impress upon the 6-foot-2, 210-pounder that he must play more physically. Regehr remains a top prospect, however, who, with Derek Morris, Toni Lydman and Denis Gauthier, forms the nucleus of what could be a top NHL blue line.

Sports Illustrated senior writer Michael Farber covers the NHL beat for the magazine and is a regular contributor to CNNSI.com.

 

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