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Friday, June 12, 2009 3:57 PM

GM denies Pronger trade

Eric Duhatschek

There is some compelling logic behind the possible move – of the Anaheim Ducks’ Chris Pronger moving to the Los Angeles Kings for Jack Johnson plus a No. 1 draft choice, speculation that was making the rounds Friday prior to the seventh game of the Stanley Cup final. After all, the Ducks may ultimately need to trade Pronger to get to the $46-million (U.S.) budget that they’ll operate with next year. If they can coax Scott Niedermayer back to play again and can’t trade J.S. Giguere’s contract, it may be an option they have to look at.

But for now, the official word from Ducks’ GM Bob Murray, in a short but pointed e-mail note, is that it did not happen. In fact, Murray texted back a NO (caps his), when asked if there was any truth to the report.

Certainly, there can be no official deal anyway between teams until the Stanley Cup is won tonight. The roster freeze that goes into effect at the NHL trade deadline remains in place until the season is over – for purposes of fairness, more than anything else. If Detroit and Pittsburgh can’t do deals, no one else can either. Teams can talk; they can frame the parameters of deals; but they can’t do anything official until the commish hands the Cup to either Nicklas Lidstrom or Sidney Crosby.

It may well be that at some point, the Ducks do move Pronger for the reasons cited above; and it may be that the Kings also shop the first pick in this draft (because they’ve got lots of prospects in the system), along with Johnson (who hasn’t panned out the way they’d hoped) to upgrade for next year’s playoff push ( a possibility touched on in an earlier post this week on Dany Heatley's availability). But for now, it’s just the beginning of the silly season - the juicy gossip that’ll heat up the airwaves and cyberspace between now and the draft. Isn't it great?

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Globe On Hockey Contributors

David Shoalts

David Shoalts, a native of Wainfleet, Ont., joined The Globe in 1984 as a layout and copy editor in the sports section. He attended the University of Waterloo and Conestoga College. After graduating from Conestoga with a journalism diploma in 1978, Shoalts worked at the Calgary Herald and the Calgary Sun, and later the Toronto Sun.

In 1986, Shoalts went back to the writing side of the business. He was the CFL reporter for The Globe for four years and then switched to hockey. He has covered the Toronto Maple Leafs and the NHL ever since and became a hockey columnist in 2003. Among the most memorable events Shoalts has covered are the final hockey game at the old Chicago Stadium (between the Maple Leafs and Blackhawks) and the men's and women's gold-medal hockey games at the 2002 Winter Olympics. He is also the author of a book of humour, Tales From The Toronto Maple Leafs, and co-author with retired Globe columnist William Houston of Greed and Glory, The Fall of Hockey Czar Alan Eagleson.

 
Allan Maki

Allan Maki

Allan Maki joined the Globe in 1997, after spending 19 years as a reporter and columnist at the Calgary Herald. Born in Thunder Bay, Ont., Maki graduated from the Ryerson School of Journalism in 1977.

A past president of the Football Writers of Canada, Maki has covered every Grey Cup since 1980. He's been to seven Olympic Games and covered everything from rodeos to the World Series to the Super Bowl.

A regular commentator on radio and television, Maki hosted a sports program for two years on CBC Newsworld. He has won several awards for his writing and was nominated for a National Newspaper Award in 1995.

 
Eric Duhatschek

Eric Duhatschek

Eric Duhatschek was the winner of the Hockey Hall Of Fame's Elmer Ferguson award for "distinguished contributions to hockey writing" in 2001. A graduate of the University of Western Ontario's grad school of journalism, he began covering hockey in 1978 and after spending 20 years covering the NHL and the Calgary Flames, joined globeandmail.com in September, 2000, where he writes a five-time-a-week NHL column.

A frequent contributor to Hockey Night in Canada's Satellite Hot Stove segment, he has covered four Winter Olympics, 19 Stanley Cup finals, every Canada Cup and World Cup since 1981, plus two world championships. Most recently, he was appointed as the newest member of the Hockey Hall Of Fame's annual Selection Committee.