The Ilya Kovalchuk saga is starting to look like a two team race with the Los Angeles Kings and the New Jersey Devils emerging as prohibitive favorites. Needless to say, there are plenty of NHL teams out there that would love to add Kovalchuk to the fold. With that in mind, let’s take a look at ten NHL teams that would love to sign Ilya Kovalchuk… Boston Bruins: The Boston Bruins were the NHL’s lowest scoring regular season team in 2009-10. As such, they would love to add a player who scored 230 goals over the last six NHL seasons, a player like Ilya Kovalchuk. Kovalchuk, a pure sniper, would benefit greatly from re-uniting with Bruins set-up man, Marc Savard, a player he once shared the ice with in Atlanta. Trouble is, like many NHL clubs, the Bruins do not

The Los Angeles Times is reporting that the Los Angeles Kings are now officially out of the Ilya Kovalchuk sweepstakes. The Kings are said to have sat down with Kovalchuk on Wednesday in hopes of revisiting contract talks and coming to some sort of deal. Unfortunately, it appears as if Kovalchuk’s demands are just too high, which has resulted in King’s general manager Dean Lombardi pulling the plug on a deal. The reality is, the Kings know they have a lot of good young talent on their team and, as such, they will have to tread carefully if they chose to re-sign them, which looks to be the direction the team is leaning towards. Los Angeles Kings’ governor Tim Leiweke told the times: “Dean is trying here, but we know what we need in cap space going forward to keep

After tons of speculation suggesting that highly sought after free agent sniper, Ilya Kovalchuk was going to sign with the Los Angeles Kings, the L.A. Times is reporting that they were informed by Kings’ general manager Dean Lombardi that Kovalchuk would not be headed to Tinseltown. “We took our best shot to meet his (Kovalchuk’s) needs and the teams”, Lombardi wrote to the L.A. Times via email. At this point there are still a number of NHL teams still interested in Kovalchuk, including the New Jersey Devils, Colorado Avalanche, and the New York Islanders—who are said to have tendered a ten-year $10 million dollar deal to Kovalchuk, the same amount he turned down from the Atlanta Thrashers organization just a few months ago. While it is unknown as to how much money and what kind of term the Kings were

As expected, the Edmonton Oilers used the number one pick to select Taylor Hall , while the Boston Bruins selected Tyler Seguin with the second overall pick. Hall, who won back-to-back Memorial Cups and Memorial Cup MVP’s, gives the Oilers a very talented, offensive-minded forward who should bring a certain amount of respect back to the floundering Oilers franchise. In Seguin, the Bruins get a player that won the OHL scoring title and is the more well rounded of the two top picks. Given Seguin’s skill-set the Bruins feel as if he is ready to step into their everyday lineup as a top six forward. No question, both teams got great players and, while I suspect Hall will be a tremendous NHL scorer, I suspect Seguin will emerge as the better, more well-rounded player. Despite all the speculation, there never

With so many NHL teams up or near the top of the salary cap there are plenty of big ticket players that NHL general managers would love to send packing. Trouble is, with so little cap space out there, many of these contracts are virtually untradeable. With that in mind, let’s take a look at the NHL’s ten most untradeable contracts—who will emerge as number one? ***Please note: all numbers going forward are courtesy of capgeek.com and represent the players “CAP HIT”, not “SALARY”. Jeff Finger, Defenseman, Toronto Maple Leafs: When then Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Cliff Fletcher signed Jeff Finger to a long-term deal, many Leafs fans thought Fletcher was, in fact, giving the the fans of the Blue and White, “the finger”. With two years at $3.5 million per left on his contract and without the benefit

It’s draft time again, and while almost every team has a first round draft pick, their needs vary. Many NHL teams chose to draft “the best player available,” but there are also just as many teams that draft by position, hoping to fill a void on their current roster. With that in mind, let’s take a look at Part One of a three-part series on my look at the NHL’s Eastern Conference teams and what their biggest needs are heading into the 2010 NHL Entry Draft. Which player will your favorite Eastern Conference team be looking to draft? Toronto Maple Leafs: Unfortunately, for fans of the Blue and White, there will be no first round draft pick and, as such, there will be no “savior” heading Toronto’s way. The Toronto Maple Leafs will not draft a player until the third