NHL Rumor Update: June 30th, 2011 (LATE EDITION)

NHL Rumor Update: June 30th, 2011 (LATE EDITION)

Patrick Eaves Back To The Red Wings?
The Detroit Red Wings are supposedly close to re-signing Patrick Eaves, who will be a UFA tomorrow. 


Ville Leino Will Be A Hot Commodity 
Ville Leino will almost definitely reach UFA status tomorrow and he will have a lot of interest in him. He will get a hefty raise from his previous salary of $800K, and probably a multi-year deal. Supposedly Leino will be looking for a contract in the ball park of 3-4 years at about $3 Million per year. Despite the fact that there will be upwards of 5 to 10 teams interested in him, I expect there to be about three that truly end up as the real contenders. One would be the Maple Leafs, another would be the NY Islanders, and the last team would be the Dallas Stars.


Winnipeg (haha I'm still not used to saying that) May Shop Zach Bogosian
Zach Bogosian is one of the hottest players on the trade market right now and the lack of talented blue liners available in free agency will really increase his value. There have been almost a dozen teams that have been said to have interest in Bogosian. Of them, the Detroit Red Wings seem to be a likely destination, but I wouldn't count out the Islanders who are said to be looking for a top-4 defenseman and have liked Bogosian for a while now.


Avalanche Desperate For Goaltenders
The Avalanche are going to be looking for a goalie...probably a few goalies. They literally do not have one NHL goalie under contract as of right now and the Avs are said to be targeting Tomas Vokoun. I expect them to be the biggest player for him, but if that falls through look to Josh Harding as the next guy on the list. 


Islanders May Have Interest In Simon Gagne
Simon Gagne is an interesting player to watch in free agency and I would expect there to be a few teams interested in his services. The Islanders were supposedly very interested in Gagne right before he was moved to Tampa Bay, so I would expect them to be the team that tries the hardest to get him, but I wouldn't be surprised if he went to a team like the LA Kings.