Maple Leafs GM Dave Nonis continues to be active in looking for ways to improve his club by adding a veteran forward, but continues to be handcuffed as his club embarks on a two game road trip Wednesday in Minnesota .
According to TSN’s Darren Dreger, Toronto has inquired about Stars center Vern Fiddler, who reportedly has asked to either be given more ice time in Dallas by coach Lindy Ruff or to be traded, as he will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of this season.
The Leafs are said to be concerned about Fiddler’s age(33) but also would have a difficult time making room for the veteran under the team’s salary cap. The club has been able to create some cap space by placing Nikolai Kulemin, Mark Fraser, Tyler Bozak and Dave Bolland on LTIR, but the amount created is only a pro-rated amount of their annual salary and would not create enough room to add Fiddler, who makes $1.8 Million.
Bolland has been placed on LTIR and could be out up to three months, which could open up as much as 50% of his $3.375 Million salary, but the Leafs have to make a trade to give them more flexibility to make moves. Dreger reports that Toronto have had preliminary discussions with the Carolina Hurricanes about defenseman John-Michael Liles.
The 32-year-old Liles was recalled by the Leafs before their Western Canada road swing in late October after registering one goal and four assists in eight games with the Toronto Marlies, but has not cracked the lineup in over two weeks.
The Hurricanes are second last in the Eastern Conference with 34 goals scored and are looking for offensive help on their blueline after losing defenseman Joni Pitkanen for the season with a heel injury. The Canes have rookie Ryan Murphy and former ex-Sabre Andrej Sekera playing in most offensive situations and could use Liles experience as a puck carrier and power play quarterback.
Pitkanen and his $4.5 Million salary were placed on LTIR before the season and GM Jim Rutherford used $2 Million of that newly created space to sign stay-at-home free agent Ron Hainsey. Although the report indicates that talks have not advanced significantly, Carolina does have room to take on Liles contract and could be holding out to see if he can get the Leafs to pay a larger portion of the remaining three years of the deal.
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Injured Leafs center Tyler Bozak skated for 25 minutes with club strength and conditioning coach Anthony Belza on Tuesday and in his remarks to the media after practice, head coach Randy Carlyle indicated that Bozak might be able to resume practicing with the club by the weekend.
Bozak was injured in Columbus on October 25th and is not eligible to come off LTIR until November 21.
Jonathan Bernier will start in goal for the Leafs against Minnesota. Bernier has enjoyed success against the Wild, with a 3-1-2 record, 1.14 GAA, .953 Sv % and three shutouts. The only expected lineup change from Saturday night’s loss in Boston is the return of Colton Orr replacing Troy Bodie.
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The weekend back-to-back with the Buffalo Sabres has become just a little bit more interesting as the Eastern Conference bottom dwellers fired GM Darcy Regier and Coach Ron Rolston Wednesday morning. Hall of Famer and former Sabre Pat Lafontaine has been appointed President of Hockey Operations and former Jack Adams Trophy winner Ted Nolan has been hired as interim coach.
The very popular Nolan, who was 73-72-19 from 1995 to 1997 with the Sabres has always been a proponent of physical hockey, as his previous incarnation as Buffalo coach with the likes of Rob Ray, Brad May, Matthew Barnaby and Bob Boughner would attest.
If the buildup to first meeting between Buffalo and Toronto after the John Scott – Phil Kessel incident was not enough, Nolan indicated that Scott would be in the lineup for Buffalo on Friday, as the behemoth has completed his seven game suspension for the head hit on Boston’s Loui Eriksson.
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