NHL: Canucks, Penguins to battle for Paul Kariya once again?

The Boston Bruins are free falling in the standings and the Bruins are making a hard attempt to land Ray Whitney before the Olympic break.

The Bruins have also be engaged in trade talks with the St. Louis Blues regarding forward Keith Tkachuk but the Blues aren’t ready to move the veteran forward.

The asking price for Ray Whitney is a first round pick and a mid-tier prospect. A steep price for teams like Pittsburgh that won’t go that high. Vancouver, Calgary, Los Angeles, are among a number of teams interested.

The Globe and Mail reports, Toronto Maple Leafs have to make a decision at goaltender. The Globe and Mail lists three options that will be considered:

*Hand the No. 1 job to Gustavsson next season and sign a good backup from the list of free agents.

*Look for a veteran free agent who can act as a mentor to the 25-year-old Gustavsson and be capable of playing as many as 50 games if the youngster’s development still lags.

*Sign or trade for the best possible goaltender money and cap space can buy. Gustavsson can either back up and wait his turn or be traded for another asset.

The Globe and Mail indicates goaltender Tomas Voukon from the Florida Panthers could be an option at the trade deadline, if the Panthers are out of the playoff race.

The Calgary Flames were mentioned by hockey insider Bob McKenzie as being a potential top contender in the Ilya Kovalchuk sweepstakes, but according to the Calgary Sun that won’t be the case.

The Calgary Sun reports, that GM Daryl Sutter has no intentions of bringing in a $10 million a year player.

“He’s {Ilya Kovalchuk} a star player who is unrestricted next year, so you’d have to give up players under contract for a guy who isn’t, Sutter told the Sun. “I don’t think that’s a move that’s in the best interest of the organization,”

Sutter also told the Sun on Saturday that he has no plans to do anything radical such as trading Dion Phaneuf or Robyn Regehr before the deadline, however, it is believed that Sutter would move Phaneuf for a young top flight forward like a Jeff Carter in Philadelphia or Anaheim’s Bobby Ryan.

Sheldon Souray is drawing significant interest on the trade market and he’s only owed $4.5 million per season over the next two years, which according to Kevin Allen of the USA Today, “makes him desirable even to penny pinchers”

According to reports, Souray prefers to play on the West Coast with Anaheim, Dallas and Los Angeles being potential destinations but is drawing plenty of interest from east coast teams.

The Vancouver Canucks and the Pittsburgh Penguins were a finalist for Paul Kariya in the summer of 2007 when both teams made three year offers.

Nearly three years later, both teams are expected to be in on Kariya again.

Tom Fitzgerald, the Penguins assistant to the GM, was in St. Louis on Saturday, sparking speculation that Kariya is a top target for the Penguins.

Penguins GM Ray Shero knows Kariya well dating back to Kariya’s year (2005-2006) in Nashville but the only problem is that the Blues have pulled back on dealing Kariya due to the Blues remaining in the playoff race and Pittsburgh will have to get very creative in fitting Kariya’s salary.