NHL Draft Rumors: Nabokov, Savard Could Be On The Move Saturday

Marc Savard has been one of the names rumored to be moved the past couple of days and with about twenty minutes before the start of day two of the NHL Draft, the rumors are starting to heat up again. With Tyler Seguin in the fold, it appears as those a center is expendable in Beantown.

One of the prevailing themes throughout the first round of the NHL Draft was that the San Jose Sharks were going to send Nabokov’s rights to the Philadelphia Flyers.

From Rob Rossi of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:

It appears as though Gonchar could hit the open market on July 1. His days in Pittsburgh could be coming to a close. For more, visit SBN’s Pensburgh.

Defenseman Keith Ballard is reportedly drawing a lot of interest at the NHL Draft in Los Angeles, and he could be moved on Friday. As per TSN’s Bob McKenzie...

Check out this quote from ESPN’s Pierre LeBrun. He’s talking to Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli about his talks with Edmonton Oilers GM Steve Tambellini on Friday before the draft.

That’s right. Tambellini has the number one pick and he’s trying to make a play for the second pick as well. It’s not going to happen, as Chiarelli mentions above, but it’s funny pretty awesome that Tambellini tried.

From TSN’s Darren Dreger...

We told you yesterday that the Boston Bruins were actively trying to trade Tim Thomas. Several teams were interested, including the Philadelphia Flyers. Well, that appears to be falling apart. Sorry, Bruins fans.

From Thomas’ agent, Bill Zito, who spoke with the Boston Globe:

Darren Dreger of TSN has more on the rumor front.

Tim Thomas isn’t getting his starting job back in Boston, and that’s as clear as day with the presence of young goalie Tuukka Rask. So you would think, then, that it would suit both the Bruins and Thomas well to part ways. One gets an albatross of a contract off of their books while the other gets a chance to earn a starting gig again.

The Bruins reportedly took the first step in facilitating a potential trade today, asking Thomas’ agent, Bill Zito, for permission to talk with other teams about a trade. According to CapGeek.com, Thomas has a full no-trade clause and a full no-movement clause, meaning he can’t be traded or sent to the minors, in effect until July 2012.

If you had a nickel (or, perhaps a loonie) for every Tomas Kaberle trade rumor that’s come out in the last several years, well, you know how that saying goes. There are more today, but this time, they might have some actual meat to them.

From TSN’s Darren Dreger:

The Philadelphia Flyers have been searching for goaltending for 20-some years at this point, and despite an Eastern Conference title this past year, the search rages on this offseason. So will the Flyers tackle their next goaltender via trade, or will it come after July 1 via free agency?

Tim Panaccio of CSN Philadelphia tries to answer the question.

The San Jose Sharks won’t be re-signing soon-to-be-free-agent goaltender Evgeni Nabokov, general manager Doug Wilson told CSN California on Tuesday. The exact quote from Wilson...

Nabokov will hit free agency as one of the elder statemen in a long list of available goalies this summer. Over the last four seasons in San Jose, Nabokov put together successful regular season runs but things never worked out in the playoffs. With a cap hit of $5.375 million, it seems like a big price to pay on a guy who doesn’t get the real goal done in the long run.

See what an amazing playoff run can do? The Chicago Blackhawks are reportedly asking for quite the return on winger Dustin Byfuglien. Via ESPN’s Pierre LeBrun...

The trade market is expected to be incredibly active this year, and speculation is running rampant on who will be moved. Some of the biggest news today comes from Boston, and CSN New England reporter Joe Haggerty.

Still, any team would have to pay Thomas that $5 million, and uh, the consensus seems to be that Thomas deserves nowhere near that type of pay check. For that reason, Boston might have trouble dumping him.