Ottawa Sun:
Ray Emery eyeing a return, Sutters and MacLean on hot seat, Blues interested in Senators' Lee
Emery
Bruce Garrioch reported on Sunday that former Ottawa Senators goalie Ray Emery is attempting a return to the National Hockey League. The 28-year-old is reportedly in Toronto and working with former Toronto Maple Leafs trainer Matt Nichol.
Emery was the Senators' goalie when the team went all the way to the Stanley Cup final in 2007, only to fall short to the Anaheim Ducks.
He last played in the NHL for the Philadelphia Flyers during the 2009-2010 season before suffering a hip injury that forced him to undergo career-threatening surgery. He went 16-11-0 in 2009-2010 and had a goals against average of 2.64 to go along with a .905 save percentage.
While Emery is going through intense workouts every day, Nichol has yet to set a timetable for his return. Garrioch says the first step is to get him skating again, meaning he will likely begin to work out with an OHL team in the coming weeks. After that, Emery will have to go through a 25-game professional tryout in the AHL before being signed to a contract.
Sutters
Garrioch also said that Calgary Flames general manager Darryl Sutter and head coach Brent Sutter are on the "hot seat." The two are brothers and have been in Calgary together since June of 2009 and have had very little success since.
Brent led the team to a 40-32-10 record in 2009-2010, failing to miss the playoffs. This season the Flames are just 11-32-2 and sit last in the Western Conference.
“The moves made in the summer bringing back Olli Jokinen and Alex Tanguay were mystifying,” a league executive told Garrioch.
MacLean
The New Jersey Devils have been nothing short of a disappointment this season and, with a record of 8-16-2, are in serious trouble.
The team's stuggles have put rookie head coach John MacLean under the radar for some time now and his time in New Jersey seems to be very close to an end.
Garrioch says the Devils might be interested in bringing back former Atlanta Thrashers head coach Bob Hartely, but rumors of Jacques Lemaire coming out of retirement to coach his former team were going around on Saturday.
Hartley coached struggling Devils star Ilya Kovalchuk during his time in Atlanta. Garrioch says he turned down an offer to coach Lugano of the Swiss league recently.
Lee
Ottawa Senators general manager Brian Murray has been shopping defenceman Brian Lee for some time now. After clearing waivers last week, multiple teams have reportedly been knocking on Murray's door to talk about Lee's availability. Garrioch said the St. Louis Blues, who are currently looking for a defeceman, could be one of those teams.
The Blues are rumored to have been combing the league for a trading partner, as they could also be willing to work out a package deal that would also include a veteran forward going to the Blues.
One more...
Beauchemin
With the Toronto Maple Leafs coming off of a four game losing streak, including losses to fellow Canadian teams Ottawa and Edmonton, reports of Francois Beauchemin being shopped are swirling all around the media.
Even with all the reports of Maple Leafs management looking to make a change, general manager Brian Burke still claims that a trade is not imminent and a coaching change will not happen anytime soon.
A trade is not likely until the New Year, as Burke's holiday trade freeze always kicks in earlier than the NHL's, which goes from December 19th to the 27th.
Beauchemin came extremely close to scoring his second goal of the season on Saturday night before Tim Thomas made a save-of-the-year candidate stop. He has one goal and four assists to go along with a minus-3 rating in 25 games this season.
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