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Travis Zajac has been the top center for the New Jersey Devils for the last three years. He scored 25 goals and had 42 assists last season, but the New York Post is reporting that he may be on the list of sacrificial players if and when the NHL finally approves a contract between the Devils and free-agent winger Ilya Kovalchuk.

If the team signs Kovalchuk to the $100 million, 15-year deal that is rumored to have been submitted to the NHL for approval, it will need to get rid of between $3 million and $5 million of salary to get under the cap.

The signing of Jason Arnott this summer has made Zajac more expendable, though the paper notes that "conventional wisdom suggests Bryce Salvador ($2.9 million) and Dainius Zubrus ($3.4 million) are the obvious candidates" to be sent packing when Kovalchuk eventually signs.

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Montreal Canadiens restricted free agent goaltender Carey Price may be only 23 years old, but he’s old enough to know that he wants more dough.

CBC-Montreal is reporting that "a very very reliable source close to Carey Price" has shared that the goalie wants to be making $3 million per season "or he’s going on strike."

Drafted fifth overall in the 2005 draft, Price went 13-20 with five overtime losses this past year. His goals-against average was 2.77 and save percentage was .912 on the year.

The 6-3, 219-pounder from British Columbia has won 60 games in his three years in the NHL. At 19, he led the AHL’s Hamilton Bulldogs to the Calder Cup championships and won the playoff MVP award.

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Fans were screaming at former Chicago Blackhawks goalie Antti Niemi in Northern California last spring as he led his team to a playoff victory over the San Jose Sharks and eventually to a Stanley Cup championship. Now, fans there are about to give him a lot of love.

The San Jose Mercury News is reporting that Niemi, who wanted more money than the Blackhawks could pay him this offseason, will be signing with the Sharks for one year and $2 million.

The 27-year-old will replace former Sharks goalie Evgeni Nabokov and now leaves San Jose overloaded with talent between the pipes. The team also signed another native of Finland this summer: Antero Niittymaki

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Former Pittsburgh Penguins forward Bill Guerin skated with the Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday at the team’s practice facility in New Jersey, leading to speculation that the free agent could be joining the reigning Eastern Conference champions, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.

"I was down in the area visiting my father-in-law who lives in Medford [N.J.]," Guerin told the paper. "I was going to be in the area anyway and I wanted to get on the ice. My agent talked to [GM] Paul [Holmgren] about possibly having me come here and skate around with the guys. It was nice. It was good to finally get back on the ice and skate."

The 39-year-old veteran of 17 NHL seasons noted that he had no idea if it could lead to a deal or not, but he told the Inquirer that he is "definitely looking to play this year."

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Arbitrator Richard Bloch may have told Ilya Kovalchuk and the New Jersey Devils on Monday that their 17-year, $102 million deal has been rejected, but that’s not stopping them from trying to figure out another salary structure that would bring the Russian sniper to the Garden State long-term.

As Yahoo! Sports’ Gary Wyshynski reports, the Devils released a statement from general manager Lou Lamoriello on Monday that said, "While we do not currently have a contract with Ilya Kovalchuk, discussions have resumed and we are hopeful that a contract will be reached that meets with the principles in Arbitrator Bloch’s award and the NHL’s approval."

The Toronto Star points out that having Kovalchuk back on the market as a free agent hurts the Toronto Maple Leafs‘ chances of trading veteran defenseman Tomas Kaberle anytime soon. The teams that are wrapped up in Kovalchuk — the Devils and Los Angeles Kings — are teams that could be interested in Kaberle or at least help drive up his price.

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Vancouver Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo signed a 12-year, $64 million deal last fall that the league is giving some extra attention to now, thanks to the ruling on Monday by arbitrator Richard Bloch that Ilya Kovalchuk’s 17-year contract with the New Jersey Devils was invalid.

"We have complied with the NHL request for information and are awaiting further instructions," Canucks general manager Mike Gillis told The Vancouver Sun via email. "Cannot say anything further at this point."

TSN reports that the league has been looking into the similarly long-term contracts of Luongo, Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Chris Pronger, Boston Bruins forward Marc Savard and Chicago Blackhawks forward Marian Hossa.

Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli said Tuesday that his team is cooperating with the league in its investigation of the Savard contract, according to TSN.

Prominent player agent Kurt Overhardt tells The Sun, though, that he doesn’t think the league will overturn any of these contracts that have already been signed.

Overhardt told The Sun: "Any and all speculation that the league is going to claw back these other contracts … would be in complete violation of the collective bargaining agreement and it would be a complete infringement of the players’ rights under the CBA. Any attempt to do so would be absolutely predatory behaviour by the league, would be in bad faith and not in the spirit of the CBA."

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Even though veteran defenseman Tomas Kaberle would like to remain with the Toronto Maple Leafs, he may be gone before the end of the weekend thanks to a clause in his contract, according to Yahoo! Sports’ Nicholas J. Cotsonika.

Kaberle, who has one year and $4.25 million left on his deal, has a no-trade clause that shut off at the start of the draft this summer since the team didn’t make the playoffs. The no-trade clause kicks in again after Sunday.

Burke told Consonika that he’s getting plenty of interest for Kaberle right now. "The deadline is Sunday, and I don’t expect to see anyone’s best cards until probably Friday," Burke said. "That being said, the offers improved dramatically over the weekend. We’re at a double-digit number of teams that are in. Unilaterally, without any phone calls from us, two teams dramatically improved their offer over the weekend. It’s going the way I thought it would go."

Meanwhile, Kaberle’s agent Rick Curran is saying Kaberle wants to stay in Toronto and isn’t happy about Burke being so public about fielding offers for him. Burke indicated that the trade clause in the contract was drafted by Kaberle and his agent, saying "this isn’t my handiwork. … I’m dealing with what I inherited."

Curran told Cotsonika that the Leafs asked if he would discuss an extension for Kaberle if there is no trade and he said "of course, I would." Kaberle will be an unrestricted free agent July 1.

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NHL teams don’t kick off their season till early October, but Philadelphia Flyers fans have something to fret about until then: veteran defenseman Chris Pronger’s right knee.

The 35-year-old, who spent the Stanley Cup Finals being a nasty pest to the eventual Cup winner Chicago Blackhawks, had surgery in late July to remove "loose bodies" and he still has no timetable to start skating, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.

However, he is riding a stationary bike and aiming to return for the Oct. 7 opener against the Pittsburgh Penguins. But he won’t put himself at risk to make that deadline. He tells the paper he’s in "no hurry" as he wants to make sure the leg has regained its strength and feels as strong as his left leg before he hits the ice, the paper reports.

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A new contract offer must be coming for Ilya Kovalchuk because a few New Jersey Devils executives met Monday with NHL brass to discuss the structure of Kovalchuk’s contract, the NHL.com reports.

In the group for the Devils were owner Jeff Vanderbeek, president and general manager Lou Lamoriello and Kovalchuk’s agent, Jay Grossman.

The first contract offer to Kovalchuk for 17 years and $102 million was voided by the league and an arbitrator.

"There was no new contract submitted," NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told the Toronto Sun. "We talked conceptually."

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The New Jersey Devils took a new contract for Ilya Kovalchuk to the NHL on Monday only to have it rejected, according to the New York Post. So the KHL in Russia continues to try to woo him back to his homeland.

Yahoo! Sports’ Nicholas J. Cotsonika was told by KHL president Alexander Medvedev, "Ilya knows that our proposal is still on the table." Medvedev claimed that he was set to call Kovalchuk’s agent after hanging up with Cotsonika. Cotsonika also spoke with NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly, who said the league doesn’t want to lose Kovalchuk to Russia.

"Obviously he’s a great player, and we want him playing in the National Hockey League, and I believe he wants to play in the National Hockey League," Daly told Cotsonika. "As a matter of fact, during our arbitration on the first contract, he said as much. His priority is to play in the National Hockey League."

The problem with the new contract is its length, according to the Sporting News. The league already rejected New Jersey’s 17-year, $102 million contract for Kovalchuk. According to the Sporting News, Sovietsky Sport is reporting that the latest framework the Devils provided the league was for a deal spanning 15 years, and the league won’t approve anything longer than 13 years.

Follow Yahoo! Sports Rumors on Twitter at @markjmill.

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