Who's Next?

...as we slide into the dog days of summer, Baroids Bonds is about to sully the most impressive single achievement record in professional sports, the hockey poolie has to be wondering "what's going on with my team?" as training camps are now a mere 5 weeks away. Here's the latest off the rumor wire...Edmonton - now that GM Kevin Lowe has p-o'ed his good buddy GM Brian Burke, [but really, should Burke be that peeved that Lowe over-spent for Penner? Was he supposed to take a bigger risk in poolies' eyes and sign Bertuzzi to the same $ but only over 2 years? Is it Lowe's fault that few, if any, free agents want to come to Alberta's capital?], rumor has the Oilers and Thrashers talking about a potential move of Ilya Kovulchuk to Edmonton in return for draft picks and 3 players - Cogliano, O'Marra and Matt Greene. This is a similar rumor to that coming out of San Jose, where the Sharks management is worried that they may not be able to sign Patrick Marleau in 2008 and as a result, are looking to see what they could get for the soon to be UFA. In Atlanta, an ownership squabble has forced the Thrashers to trim payroll to $40M. GM Don Waddell has got to move either Kovulchuk or Hossa, whom the team would rather try and sign as he is the more complete player, but Hossa is going to be a UFA in 2008 as well....in Montreal, after signing Patrice Brisebois to a one-year deal, the Habs are rumored to be in the market to sign Danny Markov, and unite the Markov brothers. Detroit is still trying to bring the burly d-man back as well. Wherever he signs, don't expect a lot of offensive production. The Brisebois signing begins anew the love-hate relationship between Hab-fans and Brisebois. Brisebois does provide them with some veteran presence as well as a 2nd unit PP QB....Peter Forsberg remains unsigned, and most teams are rumored to be interested in seeing how he heals up in the next few weeks before beginning serious talks. Rumor has the Canucks trying to land Forsberg with an incentive laden contract to let him play with close friend Markus Naslund. However, the smart money is that Forsberg wants to play in Colorado one last time - assuming he's ready to go by training camp....Mike Peca has been advertising his desire to return to Buffalo and pilot the team where he saw the greatest success in his career. The Sabres are said not to be interested, particularly given that Peca is looking for $4M for a one year deal. If he comes down to the $2M per season level, the Sabres, Habs, Canucks and Coyotes are rumored to be "kicking the tires"....Anson Carter remains unsigned, and might remain that way right into the start of training camp. Carter had a brutal season last year, and any thoughts of him singing for more than $1M per season are ludicrous. He needs the precise situation to succeed - he had it in Vancouver two seasons ago but got greedy and now may be on the outside looking in for quite some time....