Around the League

- Ken hitchcock could return in the NHL very soon. Spector's web site report that Florida, Phoenix or Tampa Bay could be a destination for him. Jacques Martin could hire Hitchcock, as a coach, while he will concentrate his efforts on the GM duties.

Latrappe's take: Phoenix could be the next destination for Hitchcock. With a record of 2-8, Gretzky will not stay very long behind the bench and this team need an experienced coach to put things in order. Their goaltending is awful and that's an area where they will have to improve quickly...

- With the loss of Micheal Handzus,for the rest of the season, and with Havlat out for 3 to 4 weeks, the Hawks need help quickly. There's few legitimate options on the RFA market and with their good start, the team might will try to bolster their lineup. Spector's is reporting that Chicago have contacted centerman Yannick Perreault.

- Coyotes defenseman Nick Boynton have a slow start with his new team. He's -5 ( probably more after his team lost 6-1 to edmonton, last night ) with an abyssal 47 minutes of penalty. It seems that Boyton will have to adjust sooner then later to this new NHL.

- Once again, Flyers denied rumours regarding their interest on SJ goaltender Vesa Toskala.

Latrappe's take: Even if some rumours are kind of BS, there's no smoke without fire. I always believed that SJ would trade one of their keeper if the right offer come along. Also, the reason why Toskala's name is mentionned so many time is because of Nabokov's hefty salary.

- An NHL executive is reporting that trade talk had considerably heating up in the last 7 days. It seems that there's lots of teams, right now, who are not willing to wait and sink. Do the B's are in that category???