Blockbuster Friday? June 24th could be entertaining.

 by Brandt Corbin

 

                Mark down June 24 on your calendar, I was thinking of starting my vacation that day but new developments plus more trade rumours are making me delay it 24 hours. On that day the 2011 NHL Entry Draft commences in St.Paul Minnesota, where the bigger deals of the year likely are to be made. Now some of the players that could be moved will surprise you, same can be said for the teams that are looking to make a move. Lets first go over the teams that are looking to make a major move, to either shake up their current  roster or elevate them to the next step.

Three teams come to mind

St. Louis Blues> Over the past few days and weeks, word out of St. Louis is that young power forward T.J Oshie could be moved but make no mistake only for thr right price. Two setbacks last year for the 24-year-old, he broke his ankle early in the season missing  a few months of action. The second setback was late in the season when he missed a team practice because of an unannounced absence.  The Blues have been status quo for the past three years, a young, up and coming team that has been unable to take it to that next step. How long will the fans tolerate the Blues being average? After traded Erik Johnson in February, you know they have the balls to pull of a block buster. Would they be looking for a top three defenseman or a top six forward? If Oshie is made available for discussions, make no mistake they will get a lot of calls.  The Blues could take salary back in any move, they’ve got 37.4 committed to 13 players next year, but that includes their top six forwards, top five de-man and starting goaltender.

Minnesota Wild> Might the hosts of the draft want to make a big splash? They will have 8 million in cap space and with Brunette, Miettinen, Kobasew and Madden all moving on, they have an opening for improvement up front.  Last season they were one of the big disappointments, only because they spent over 56 million to be out of the playoff picture with 12 games left in the season. They like St. Louis need to change the face of the franchise, staying at status quo will get them another year outside of the playoffs. Thus far the fan base has been rock solid, but another year of losing could start a downward spiral for attendance.

Winnipeg?>The old Atlanta Thrashers and now unnamed Winnipeg hockey club, have been inconsistent since coming into the NHL, making the playoffs one time in 11 years, and being swept that same year. Winnipeg has one thing most teams do not have and that is cap space. They could be in the market for a higher priced talent that has one or two years left in a contract, they likely will not seek a player with more than 2 years left at big money.  They also have assets that could be very attractive to some teams. Mainly they could dangle their 7^th pick overall, late last season Tobias Enstrom’s name was mentioned in some trade talk. Zach Boogasian could also be dangled if the right trade comes along, but that could be a long shot.

Columbus Blue Jackets> Rumors had been running rampant last week that the Blue Jackets and Flyers could make a blockbuster. Talks had Carter to CBJ for Jakub Varocek and the 7th overall pick, one would assume Columbus could make that trade in a second, Phili would have second thoughts. If that trade falls through look for GM Scott Howson to inquire about Jason Spezza, mainly because Columbus has to do something, status quo has not been working.