The man can take a punch; I'll give him that.

THE RUMOR MILL:
According to the Kamloops Daily News, there are whispers at the Memorial Cup that the head coach of the Kootenay Ice and 2009-10 WHL Coach of the Year, Mark Holick, will man the bench of the Ducks' new affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch.  The article doesn't name a source and could not get an official confirmation.

Lindsay Kramer of the Syracuse Post-Standard spoke with Holick, who remained mum on the subject.  Just yesterday, McNab told Kramer the time table for selecting a new coach was no longer than a month but didn't intimate that a deal was close.

THE RUMOR MILL:
According to The Post-Standard in Syracuse, the city's AHL team, the Syracuse Crunch, will officially announce their new NHL affiliate tomorrow, and most are speculating that that team will be the Anaheim Ducks.  The timing of the announcement, in particular, seems to point to the Ducks, who currently do not have an affiliate.  If the Crunch were announcing an affiliation with a team currently tied to another AHL franchise, they would likely wait until the end of the season.    

If true, the Ducks would have an AHL affiliate for the first time since breaking ties with the Iowa Chops last summer.  The Iowa ownership had used the team as collateral in a loan, violating AHL rules, and were unable to fulfill their financial commitments to the Ducks in a timely manner.

Spending the year without an AHL team, Anaheim has farmed out experienced prospects to clubs like Manitoba, Toronto and San Antonio.  However, some AHL clubs refused to play Anaheim's less experienced prospects, like Dan Sexton, who were forced to play for the Ducks' ECHL club in Bakersfield for a long stretch before a willing AHL placement could be found for them.  The situation seemed to particularly affect Anaheim first-round picks Mark Mitera and Logan MacMillan.  The former was unable to play a full and consistent season at the pro level after coming back from knee surgery, while the latter was picked up for drunk driving in Bakersfield after a disappointing year in the ECHL.   

The Syracuse Crunch were previously associated with the Columbus Blue Jackets.  Anaheim GM Bob Murray said in a Fan Forum teleconference three weeks ago that the team's Senior VP of Hockey Operations David McNab was getting on a plane that night to finalize an affiliate deal and that the AHL was helping the Ducks get their first choice. 

DANIEL:
The Daily Herald is reporting that the Blackhawks are trying to reacquire James Wisniewski from the Ducks.  The Hawks might be dangling Cam Barker in order to pry Wiz out of Murray's cold dead hands.  Wisniewski is apparently a fan favorite in Chicago. I for one would be glad to see him gone and would appreciate the more responsible and larger Barker.  But that's just me.  Moral of the story, Chicago might be crazy enough to take Wisniewski off our hands. Maybe we can throw in Todd Marchant and get Dustin Byfuglien too.

DANIEL: 

This is Anaheim Calling to the Hockey World.  Darren Dreger of TSN is reporting that the Toronto Maple Leafs are going to be announcing a major trade in the future.  Brian Burke will be available to the media at 8:30 A.M. PST, so the announcement might come in the next half hour.  Mr. Eklund down at Hockey Buzz, in a leap that can only be considered the intellectual equivalent of taking the first step in a game of hopscotch, believe that Jean-Sebastien Giguere is all but destined to be a Leaf.  While there is of course no guarantee Giguere is on the move, the recent signing of Jonas HIller to 4 year extension seems to lead one to believe that Giguere's days at a Duck are all but behind him.  So far, no one but Eklund seems to be jumping to Giguere conclusions, but we've heard this Jiggy to Toronto rumor before.  This isn't a move I disagree with, but I think a sad one for Ducks fans who will have to say goodbye to a net minder who has provided a lot of really good memories.

ARTHUR:
USA Today reports that Bob Murray was in the Air Canada Centre press box last night.  That's the news.

The rumor is tied to the fact that last night was Vesa Toskala's first start since Nov. 23rd, and the goaltender came away with a win.  According to Randy Youngman, there were preliminary talks for a Giguere/Toskala trade in early November.  Obviously, nothing has materialized, but the Ducks have since, reportedly, inquired into the availability of other Toronto players, such as Niklas Hagman.  Bob Murray's attendance could mean that a Toronto trade, principally involving Toskala, is still a viable option during Youngman's "long before the trade deadline" timeframe.  

Big thanks to cupie for having this up first in the Fanposts.  

THE RUMOR MILL:
Jason Hendricks of Hendricks Hockey reports that the Ducks are the primary suitors for the Rangers' Christopher Higgins with Marchant likely headed back to New York in the deal.

ARTHUR:

Money-wise, I'm not sure if this deal could happen straight up.  The Ducks have the cap space to absorb Higgins, who comes in at 2.25M (twice Todd Marchant's salary), but they're already over budget.  And yet, there is something to be said for getting Marchant's money for next year off the books (as Higgins is a UFA this summer).  

Logistically, I think this makes a lot of sense.  Carlyle claimed that he had planned on using three scoring lines all summer.  Higgins definitely moves the team closer to that goal.  Anaheim would lose Marchant's defensive skill on the PK, but Farrish has seemed content to let Koivu replace him thus far this season.

DANIEL:

I don't really see this trade happening.  I think even Murray knows his main problems are on defense, so the only way this happens is if he thinks he can flip Higgins for some blue line help sooner rather than later.  Moreover, the Top 6 is pretty full, and we should give Lupul a legitimate shot at being the LW on that Koivu-Selanne line before we start picking up extra talent.

If it did happen, I think it would be a bad trade for the Ducks. We take a struggling forward who can't get it together, and we lose a veteran center who last season did an excellent job putting the opposition's top scoring line in check.  It might allow scoring to expand, but right now I think Murray needs to pay more attention to the blueline.