Why haven’t teams gone after Martin Biron?

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Empty Netters blog looks at teams that UFA goaltender Martin Biron could help. The writer finds it curious that Biron has attracted such little interest so far. He feels the Thrashers, Kings, Coyotes and Lighting would be the best fits.

What do you think? Why haven’t teams gone after Biron?

Talk swirls around Lecavalier, Kaberle, Pronger, others

The Canadian Press’s Chris Johnston recently posted a column regarding the NHL trade rumors floating around in Montreal as teams have gathered for the draft. Here are few highlights from the column:

• Maple Leafs GM Brian Burke received an offer for defenseman Tomas Kaberle. The offer grabbed Burke’s attention, and came unsolicited. Wonder what team it was? In my last post, I noted a rumor regarding the Atlanta Thrashers and Kaberle.
• The Anaheim Ducks could be looking to shed payroll by moving one or both of goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere and defenseman Chris Pronger.
• The Detroit Red Wings are still hoping to re-sign winger Marian Hossa.
• The Canadians would like to add a big center, and the target could be Vincent Lecavalier.

Tomas Kaberle could be headed to Atlanta Thrashers

The Columbus Dispatch has an article about Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Tomas Kaberle. It says the Blue Jackets are not one of the teams interested. It also says the rumor going around is that Atlanta has offered to trade the No. 4 overall pick in tomorrow’s draft for Kaberle. Then, the Maple Leafs could either consider swapping that pick plus it’s No. 7 pick to move up in the draft, or stay at No. 4 and take Brayden Schenn, younger brother of Maple Leafs defenseman Luke Schenn.

Slap shots: Hossa, Nash, Kovalchuk, Gaborik, Roloson, Khabibulin

The Hockey News’ Ryan Dixon has some interesting news and notes in today’s column. Here are a few highlights:

• He feels that Marian Hossa is likely to re-sign with the Detroit Red Wings, but he wonders what would happen if the Pittsburgh Penguins came calling again.
• Columbus Blue Jackets forward Rick Nash and Atlanta Thrashers forward Ilya Kovalchuk are both scheduled to be UFAs in 2010. Dixon thinks they’ll both enter next season without having signed extentions, and thus could be the subject of trade rumors over the next year.
• Dany Heatley isn’t the only big name scorer who could be on the move this summer; don’t forget about the Wild’s Marian Gaborik
• Dixon tells Edmonton Oilers fans that he’d be more comfortable signing goalie Dwayne Roloson over Nikolai Khabibulin, despite the four-year age difference. Roloson, who turns 40 in a few months, keeps himself in great shape and Khabibulin is more injury prone, he notes. Of course, it’s only pretent money, he says.