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Naples, Fla. —
The NHL's 30 general managers ended their annual winter meetings Wenesday by singing from the same songsheet with apologies to Nilsson: "Everybody's talking at me but I don't hear a word they're sayin'."
There were one or two things that were advanced on the official agenda, such as introducing a one-minute penalty in overtime for experimentation by the American Hockey League next season, but trade talks dominated the sessions, since the NHL's trade deadline arrives next Tuesday.
The names flying about were mostly the same all week — Mats Sundin, Marian Hossa, Brian Campbell, Brad Richards, Dan Boyle, Vinny Prospal and Ollie Jokinen with Alex Tanguay and Michael Ryder being late arrivals. But nothing more than Tuesday's minor trade between the Philadelphia Flyers and Los Angeles Kings was made by the time the meetings wrapped up yesterday afternoon.
Talks between Montreal Canadiens GM Bob Gainey and Darryl Sutter, his Calgary Flames counterpart, were said to be heating up over a swap of forwards. Alex Tanguay is not happy in Calgary and the Habs have Michael Ryder, who is set to become a free agent.
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However, Gainey gave reporters the slip when the meetings ended and Sutter employed his best deadpan humour when he was asked about Tanguay being among all the names flying around.
"There are not a lot of names being thrown around," Sutter said. "So if you're getting those names, perhaps you could pass them along to me."
Ottawa Senators GM Bryan Murray would like to add a top-six forward (Hossa or Prospal) and a top-four defenceman (Boyle), given his team's struggles of late. However, the minimum price in such deals, a first-round draft pick, is something he would rather not surrender. This year's entry draft is in Ottawa and it would be bad public relations for the Senators not to have a first-round pick.
"It sounds like there's a few people doing a few things and I feel like I'm in the mix with a couple of them if I want to be," Murray said. "I don't know that I want to give up my first-round pick. With any of the things I'm talking about I haven't been asked that question yet but I would prefer not to, for sure."
Campbell and Boyle are the top two defencemen under discussion but both of their current teams want to sign them to new contracts. They will not go on the market until those efforts fail.
Buffalo Sabres GM Darcy Regier is thought to be putting a final contract offer together for Campbell and his agent but he declined to confirm it.
"I'm not going to answer that right now, quite frankly, because I'll have that conversation with the agent," Regier said.
Jay Feaster, the GM of the Tampa Bay Lightning, is shopping a long list of players but Boyle is the one he would dearly love to keep.
"Dan [Boyle] wants to stay in Tampa. We want to keep Dan," Feaster said. "I hope that is the basis to get something done. But if I announce an auction tomorrow, there will be a dozen teams that queue up."
There is a belief one reason trade progress is slow is because a couple of high-profile rent-a-player trades a year ago that flopped are making everyone cautious. But Toronto Maple Leafs interim GM Cliff Fletcher said few of his colleagues are interested in taking on lengthy contracts in a trade. They are looking for pending free agents, the classic rental players, or those with just a year or two left on their deals.
"I don't think that is across the board with the whole group," he said. "But there doesn't appear to be any interest in players with any term on their contracts left."
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On the hockey operations front, the only motion adopted was to try out the one-minute penalties in overtime in the AHL. The GMs also issued a clarification on goals scored with a kicking motion that was more confusing than the original edict. But a simple translation is that players can re-direct pucks into the net by turning their skates toward the puck. They just cannot swing their legs in a full kick and boot the puck into the net.
There is also a push to have the first faceoff after a penalty is called to be in the offensive zone. That is currently being tried in the AHL and may be introduced to the NHL next season.
The GMs also plan to move the start of the free agency period back from July 1. The idea is not to start the free-agent bazzar on the holiday weekends in Canada and the United States but on the Monday following them. However, they still have to work out acceptable dates.
There was talk about establishing a research and development department, an idea being pushed by the Sabres. Regier said Colin Campbell, the NHL's director of hockey operations, was receptive but it remains "in the conceptual stage."
Some general managers want to increase the regular season by two games to 84 by dropping the pre-season schedule by two games. The GMs are said to be split on this issue, which was proposed to the NHL governors by Paul Kelly, executive director of the NHL Players' Association, so it was limited to discussion only.
One idea did get voted down. Called the LeBrun Proposal after talking head and Canadian Press hack Pierre LeBrun, who convinced NHL commissioner Gary Bettman to bring it up, it called for the GMs' annual winter meetings to coincide with the trading deadline. This, like baseball's winter meetings, would give an extra buzz to the deadline and attract more media interest. But there were enough Nervous Nellies among the GMs to shoot it down.
