Is a team from the Swedish Elite League negotiating to buy Niclas Wallin's contract from the Hurricanes?

UPDATE, 5:27 p.m.: In an email on Thursday, Wallin said there was no truth to the rumor.

One little piece of overlooked fallout from last week's Erik Cole deal: Rod Brind'Amour and Niclas Wallin are the only players remaining from the 2002 Eastern Conference championship team.

(Technically, David Tanabe is the third, but "buyout pending" keeps him off the list.)

In addition to Cole, Glen Wesley and Bret Hedican have also left the team this summer, while Craig Adams left during the season.

...and for the last time:

To the best of my knowledge, the only Carolina players with no-trade clauses are Niclas Wallin and Scott Walker.

Carry on. That is all. 

UPDATE, 11:57 p.m.: Apparently, that's not all. According to someone with knowledge of Ray Whitney's contract, he has a no-trade clause as well.

I hadn't heard that, but the person telling me should know and has no reason to lie. So add Whitney to that list as well. I'll try to verify that tomorrow.

As you read in today's paper, the trade for and subsequent signing of Joni Pitkanen, along with the signings of Anton Babchuk and Josef Melichar, leaves the Hurricanes with seven defensemen under contract to go with restricted free agent Dennis Seidenberg and almost $2 million over budget.

In short, someone's going to have to go. But who?