Veilleux closing in on arbitration hearing

From Michael Russo of the Minneapolis Star Tribune:

Veilleux, a restricted free agent representing himself in negotiations, cleared waivers and remained Wild property with an arbitration hearing scheduled for Monday. Assistant GM Tom Lynn flew to Toronto on Thursday afternoon to get situated for the hearing, but teams and players often figure out a way to avoid what can be an acrimonious process.

The Wild hopes that clearing waivers displays to Veilleux that his contract demands are unreasonable.

But Veilleux maintained Thursday that he knows his "value," although he won't divulge what he's seeking.

Read the entire story here.

If I had to bet, I'd say these two sides will head to arbitration on Monday, and Veilleux will end up losing his case.

Langkow deal basically done

From Michael Russo of the Minneapolis Star Tribune:

It looks like Calgary’s re-signed Langkow already at four years, $20 million —
which the Wild wouldn’t have offered anyway. The Flames just can’t announce the deal until July 1 because it puts them over the $50.3 million cap, and the cap doesn’t go up until July 1 (like why the Wild and Bruins had to hold off on the Manny Fernandez trade at last year’s Draft; the trade put the Bruins over the cap until July 1).

Read more of Russo's Rants here.

There hasn't been any speculation regarding Langkow landing anywhere else or having any desire to leave Calgary, so this report makes sense. If the Flames could acquire Olli Jokinen, the Flames would be impressive up the middle.