Thoughts on Leino, Brodeur, Ward and more …

***

Pick up the Fantasy Guide here – last update was Thursday!

*

The Boston Bruins are inviting everybody's favorite fantasy commodity Ville Leino on a tryout. Why not? He's still only 30 and worst case scenario they can just cut him if they don't like what they see.

It's easy to write Leino off at this point after his disastrous tenure in Buffalo culminating in a goalless 58-game season last year, but if he cracks the Bruins squad he might be at least worth investigating. Depending on where he plays.

The Bruins also invited Simon Gagne to camp and they seem to be leaving no stone unturned in an attempt to replace Jarome Iginla's scoring.

*

So Martin Brodeur would listen to an offer to join the Montreal Canadiens. Not shocking but very unrealistic for that to be a potential landing spot. The Canadiens obviously have Carey Price as the number one and then Peter Budaj and Dustin Tokarski behind him. Brodeur could maybe beat out Budaj at this point but Tokarski would seem to be above him anyway.

The Tokarski/Budaj dynamic will be interesting next season. It's clear the Canadiens have more confidence in Tokarski based on last year's playoffs but does it really make sense to keep him if he is barely going to play behind Price? It might make sense to try and move him for assets.

*

Rory Boylen of The Hockey News checks in with five goalies that could lose their starting jobs this season. I agree with all of them except for Marc-Andre Fleury. He's been shaky at times during the playoffs but posted solid regular season numbers. In a contract year I see him having a big campaign and earning a new deal. He's pretty important to the Pens because of their free-wheeling style, and he's bailed them out on more than a few occasions.

*

One of the goalies on his list was Cam Ward and I wanted to add to what Laidlaw said yesterday about the Hurricanes goalie.

Taking Anton Khudobin this year seemed to be a wise move givien his strong performance last year and Ward's rapidly declining play in the Hurricanes net. However, general manager Ron Francis looks to still be backing Ward with his recent comments to the News Observer.

 "We still believe he can be an elite goalie in this league," Francis said. "By the same token, Cam understands what he needs to do to get back to that level. He could have done one of two things in the offseason – either sit back and relax, or work twice as hard toward having a better year. From what I have heard, he chose to work hard."

Still, in a perfect world Francis would probably like to trade Ward and go with Khudobin, but the former Conn Smythe Trophy winner's contract makes it almost nearly impossible to do that. Francis is probably hoping Ward regains his form and a team suffers a goaltending injury early in the season that gives them a shot at moving him.

I'd probably say Khudobin's the better play long-term, but at least to start the season they will probably rotate starts. Ward likely knows this is his last chance to prove he still has it and has been working hard in the offseason to bounce back.

 "It was an important summer in my career," Ward said. "These last couple of years haven't gone the way I expected of myself. I feel like that's behind me and you move forward. I've done everything I can to prepare myself to play with confidence."

*

The CHL may be looking at changing up the Memorial Cup format with a March Madness flavor. Count me in.

 *

 Henrik Zetterberg says his back is all healed up and he's looking forward to starting the year. It's hard to believe he is still only 33. If he stays healthy and plays with Gustav Nyquist all year, is 80-85 points out of the question?

 *

 Pittsburgh Penguins forward Pascal Dupuis is coming of ACL surgery and it sure doesn't sound like things are ideal where that's concerned.

"My skin, I don't have any sensation anymore, on the front, because they cut all the nerves and everything. When I have my equipment on, I'm fine because when I fall, I feel [the shin pad hitting the ice]. But if I don't have anything on [the knee] and I go to kneel down, I have to think about where I'm at physically, because I don't feel it when my knee goes down."

I still can't believe the best player in the world is going to be playing with two 35 year olds as wingers this year. Dupuis and Chris Kunitz may struggle to stay healthy, so I would keep an eye on some young Penguin forwards that could end up with playing next to Sidney Crosby.

 *

 With more recent lockouts fresh in our minds, Sean McIndoe of Grantland looks at one that is often overlooked.

Granted, compared to what we now know was to come, the 1994 lockout could be viewed as just a warning shot, and in the years since it's been largely forgotten. But back then, as the September days ticked past and the unthinkable slowly turned into the inevitable, it was unlike anything hockey fans had ever seen before. And the dispute set the stage for Rounds 2 and 3 and beyond, as one side would eventually suffer an embarrassing loss that it swore it would never repeat.

 *

 Danny DeKeyser with some interesting offseason activities.