Janssen In Hot Water?

• Keep an eye on Cam Janssen's icetime over the next little while. Word has it that upper management wasn't very impressed with his parting words for recently fired head coach, Andy Murray.

• Ray Emery is expected to make his comeback this coming weekend and all signs point toward Brian Boucher becoming the odd man out and hitting a waiver wire near you. What is not as clear, is whether anyone might be willing to take a chance on him. Remember Stephen Valiquette cleared waivers earlier this season.

• Randy Sexton, the General Manager of the Florida Panthers was on the Fan590 today, mentioning that he sees himself as a "selective buyer" at the moment and that he's interested in adding a complimentary forward in a certain age bracket, capable of 18 to 22 goals per season... but then again, who isn't?
  

• Expect Jimmy Rutherford of the Carolina Hurricanes to make another move or two in the near future. With the return of a few players coming off injury around the corner, it sounds like the team is not ready to keep a few of it's youngsters down, or keep them in this call up/send down limbo. Scott Walker's surgery may have taken him out of the running and guys like Ray Whitney and Rod Brind'Amour are expected to move closer to the deadline. The team cannot find a taker willing to take on Joe Corvo at the moment and Niklas Wallin has already exercised his NTC once this past summer. All signs point toward Aaron Ward.
  

• There has been an awful lot of speculation in the papers surrounding a possible Ilya Kovalchuk trade to the Chicago Blackhawks. However, I suspect Bowman and company will stick the plan of riding this current team chemistry to the playoffs and simply address the cap situation in the summer.

Kicking Things Off

• Leaf scouts were spotted in Los Angeles over the past week, leading to speculation that the Kings might be open to offering up a prospect in exchange for either Alexei Ponikarovsky or Niklas Hagman in order to replace the spot once taken by Justin Williams. The decision to use Teddy Purcell up on the top line recently might be indicative of a showcasing.
  

• Time appears to be running out for Ken Hitchcock, head coach of the Blue Jackets, though it is not yet clear if Andy Murray is considered on the list of possible replacements. Scott Howson may choose someone a little more familiar to him, such as Craig MacTavish, instead.
  

• Two trains of thought on the ongoing goaltending controversy in Montreal... Gainey may wait until the draft to make a final decision on which young netminder to keep while maximizing his asset... or he may want to jump at the chance at acquiring Marty Biron out of Long Island as his new backup, forcing one of Price, or more likely Halak, out sooner rather than later.
  

• Rumor has it that Ilya Kovalchuk's agent has been given one final week to make up his mind, regarding the long term services of his client. What once seemed to be a slam dunk decision for a re-signing, things have appeared to get much more murky in recent weeks. You'd think that a guy that was instrumental in the acquisitions to both Antropov and Afinogenov wouldn't be prepared to jump ship before the season was over... but this deal should have been made by now.