Pink Slips?

1) Our league sources tell Fauxrumors this morning that several teams are considering making either coaching or managerial changes in the very near future. With the trade market so difficult right now due to salary cap problems that seems to be many teams' only option to try to either jump start their teams or salvage their seasons.

2) One erroneous report that came out yesterday stated that the Senators were prepared to fire head coach Craig Hartsburg and general manager Bryan Murray and replace them with the combination of Quinn as head coach and Hockey Canada president Bob Nicholson as GM. Almost as soon as these were reported Sens owner Eugene Melnyk denied the report. However, we at Fauxrumors have learned that its all but certain that Murray is done in Ottawa. That indeed Nicholson is probably going to be named GM in the very near future.

3) As for coach, Melnyk would first discuss that issue with the new GM before making further moves. As one source told us, "A double firing in mid season would surprise us". Pat Quinn as was mentioned was the rumored replacement, but he denies even having been contacted by the Sens. Certainly the Sens are underachieving, even worse than we had anticipated. We had them missing the post season, but we also didn't see them as a 'lottery team' either. Stay tuned folks, this might be fun to watch play out.

4) As for other possible moves; We already have mentioned on Monday how we are hearing Michel Therrien is on thin ice in Steel Town. That hasn't changed as the Pens are on the outside looking in on the top 8 playoff bound spots. We also have been told that FR2 has an interesting story that they plan to publish tomorrow concerning the Rangers possible front office changes. We won't ruin the surprise for FR2, but suffice to say a big name might be coming back to Broadway. We're also hearing that a couple of other coaches may be looking for work by the time of the All star break. Among them are :

• Andy Murray (St. Louis Blue)- Despite injuries to key personnel management is none too happy being in the West basement. We're told Andy's days are certainly numbered. Only question is when.



• Craig MacTavish (Edmonton) We're told that Oilers owner billionaire drug dealer Daryl Katz has tried to stay out of the team's workings, but a reliable source tells us that he has been getting heavily lobbied by friends to push Craig out.