Niedermayer, Selanne and Perry updates

This is pure rumors and speculation people, not from any reliable sources, so do take it with a grain of salt.

Apparently, Brian Burke is waiting on Scott Niedermayer’s decision before he begins negotiations with Corey Perry. If Scott returns and then feels up to finishing out his contract next season, the Ducks will have to make some moves to clear the space needed for Corey Perry. As we saw with Ilya Bryzgalov, you can’t always find the deal you want, so that might not be as easy as one would think. Don’t expect to let Perry go this season though, as with Niedermayer back the Ducks are surely a contender to repeat and contenders don’t trade their key players while in the hunt. I could see another Penner situation happening, in which case at least the Ducks would see some quality draft picks coming back. Expect Perry to want at least $4 million a year with the Ducks long term, so another team would probably have to offer $5 million or above to get him to sign.

Speaking of Scott Niedermayer, indications are strong for a post-New Year’s return. A lot of sources around the net have been saying he may return in December but I have heard this is definitely not the case, he would only return after the holidays. Time will tell, I suppose. There is still a lot of speculation on whether the Ducks can fit Scott under the cap; they can, as they are required to retain enough cap space until he either comes back or officially retires. They may be over their self-imposed team budget however, but supposedly Burke has stated in the cases of Teemu and Scott he is allowed to go over.

Finally, the enigma that is Teemu Selanne. While I have no doubts Selanne has been enjoying his time off, I fully expect him to return by the All-Star game at the latest. Look for him to sign a one-year deal worth maybe $2 million plus bonuses on the number of games played.