Interesting news Monday evening with a source confirming to ESPN.com that the Calgary Flames have given permission to the Toronto Maple Leafs to speak to Miikka Kiprusoff's camp about a contract extension.
My TSN colleague Aaron Ward was first to report the news.
Kiprusoff has one more year on his deal next season, which pays only $1.5 million (although it counts $5.8 million against the salary cap), and the suspicion here is that the 36-year-old netminder would sign off on a trade to Toronto only if he can get another year out of it financially.
The Leafs and Flames had yet another trade conversation about Kiprusoff on Monday, a source told ESPN.com.
Still, no deal is imminent at this point. There are still some moving parts to all this and there’s no guarantee Kiprusoff goes anywhere. But what is known as of Monday evening is that Calgary and Toronto continue to talk about him.
Any extension signed by Kiprusoff -- if he agrees to one -- could not be officially signed until July because he has one more year left on his deal.
Earlier in the day, Leafs GM Dave Nonis told Toronto reporters that, if the deal is right, he would like to add a veteran goalie before Wednesday’s deadline.
Of course, the other name connected to Toronto is Roberto Luongo. But as of Monday evening, the Canucks' and Maple Leafs' front offices had not talked since last week on Luongo.
Meanwhile:
Buffalo Sabres defenseman Robyn Regehr was asked to drop his full no-movement clause to go to the Kings and intends to do so, according to my TSN colleague Darren Dreger. The deal is not completely done yet.
The 2013 fourth-round pick the Sharks got in return from Chicago for Michal Handzus on Monday was originally San Jose’s to begin with. The Sharks dealt the pick to Chicago in June 2012 in a previous deal, so now they get the pick back. And I tell you what, given how sparingly the 36-year-old Handzus has played of late, pretty good value the Sharks got in return, especially when you consider that because Handzus had a no-trade clause, it’s not as if the Sharks could shop him to every team in the league.