Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Minnesota Shopping All-Star Goalie???

Rumors swirl in Minnesota that the team has been shopping MVP runner-up goaltender Ryan Miller. Miller, 28 has had a sub par season thus far with a 4.60 gaa, a 5-17-3 record and an .864 sv% down from last season’s 39-29-6 record with a 3.29 gaa and a .900 sv%. In all fairness to Miller, he’s seen a lot of rubber as a result of poor play in front of him.

Team officials were not available for comment but sources close the club say the team is in no hurry to make a deal. The source stated that the team is listening to offers and if one arose that the team was interested in there’s potential for a deal. The source went on to say that the team would be looking to downgrade their goaltending a bit to add depth. The team’s interest would be in adding a younger, potential No. 1 goalie like a Josh Harding / Carey Price type player along with additional draft pick(s), prospect(s) or young skater(s).

Rink Rats Make Some Moves
The Minnesota Rink Rats recently traded for center Daymond Langkow in exchange for Richard Park and a 2nd round draft pick. Langkow adds something the Rink Rats have been missing this season - a goal scorer. “He knows how to find the back of the net and that’s an area we’ve struggled in this season,” stated Head Coach Barry Melrose. We’ll move him around the lineup to see what works best but for now expect him to get a lot of playing time.”

Earlier in the week, Minnesota traded away veteran Geoff Sanderson in exchange for a 3rd round draft pick in next year’s draft. Sanderson, 36, struggled to find his scoring touch for Minnesota this season scoring only 4 goals and 3 assists in 26 while playing at a minus-16. Sanderson played in 3 seasons with the Rink Rats organization and was named the All-Star team 2 years ago. “This trade does not mean we’re giving up on this season as of yet,” stated GM Rink Rat. “We’re not planning a fire-sale here in Minnesota but we hold our players accountable and Geoff wasn’t living up to expectations. He’s getting older and there was an opportunity of attaining a good draft pick so we took the deal. We’re still shopping defenseman Karel Rachunek, goaltender John Graham and we may move Darcy Tucker but there’s still a chance to make the playoffs. We’re going to continue to work hard and hopefully we’ll some break along the way.”

No comments: