As Pittsburgh celebrates its Stanley Cup Championship – after the Penguins’ remarkable Game 7 victory in Motown — the rest of the NHL starts retooling in earnest.

The offseason is officially underway. Teams are feverishly preparing for the entry draft and the beginning of free agency.

Hockey Guy doesn’t expect the Blues to make blockbuster moves. They finished extremely well, have all-star players returning from the injured list and have skilled youngsters coming through the developmental pipeline.

Here is some of the scuttlebutt worth noting:

• On his HockeyBuzz.com blog, Andy Strickland reports that the Kings are trying to acquire Chris Pronger from the Ducks. The reported offer: Young defenseman Jack Johnson and the fifth overall pick. (Wow!) This move could allow Anaheim to keep all-star defenseman Scott Niedermayer for another year. The Kings would add much some needed-veteran presence to the blue line — and Pronger could then sign a contract extension allowing him to finish his career in SoCal.
• Why are the Kings looking to move Johnson? He is headed to restricted free agency and is said to be seeking $5.5 million per year in his next deal. As much as any pro athlete in recent history, Johnson has consistently over-valued his worth.
• If that Pronger deal doesn’t go down, the Kings could dangle that pick in a somewhat different package to pry Vincent Lecavalier out of Tampa Bay. Vinnie will headline the rumor mill leading into the NHL Draft.
• With the Panthers in ownership/management flux, Jay Bouwmeester is glad he decided to test free agency. Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver are all interested – so much so that teams are trying to acquire negotiating rights to him. The Ottawa Sun suggest Florida could add a first-round pick for his rights — which is a very high price.
• Senators winger Dany Heatley demanded a trade from Ottawa. Trouble is, he has five years and $37.5 million on his contract – a chunk that not many teams can digest. Perhaps San Jose would bite if Ottawa would take back Patrick Marleau’s contract in exchange. Hockey Buzz suggests Calgary (offering Dion Phaneuf) is another possibility.
• In addition to offering Marleau around the NHL, again, the Sharks are said to be peddling winger Milan Michalek as well.
• The Bruins have tough decisions to make this summer to lock in some younger players while keeping under the salary cap. Speedy Phil Kessel, a player that intrigued the Blues last season, is the topic of much speculation. Among the teams reportedly interested: Anaheim, Dallas, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, and Tampa. Kessel, 21, becomes a restricted free agent this summer and the Boston Globe reports that the Bruins are negotiating with him. There is a limit to what they will pay.
  
• If the Bruins keep Kessel, then NHL GMs will target Boston forwards like Michael Ryder, Patrice Bergeron, Marco Sturm (who has no-trade protection) and Chuck Kobasew.
• Marian Hossa left the Penguins to sign a one-year deal with the Red Wings, looking for a better shot at the Stanley Cup. It didn’t work out, as we saw. Detroit would like to sign him to a long-term deal, but that franchise won’t be able to keep everybody.
• Along those lines, the Toronto Globe and Mail suggests that veterans Jiri Hudler, Mikael Samuelsson, Brad Stuart and Tomas Holmstrom could all move along this summer. That would clear room for Hossa’s contract and the various Wings youngsters who stepped up nicely during the playoffs.
• The Globe and Mail also notes that the Rangers would love to move defenseman Wade Redden, Scott Gomez and/or Chris Drury. Hapless Rangers general manager Glen Sather signed both to ludicrous contracts that he came to regret. Gomez and Drury offer more value than the fading Redden, but each will pull $8 million in each of the next two seasons. Ouch.
• The Flyers have massive salary cap issues, which is garbage goal specialist Mike Knuble is likely to move along. That team will shop all sorts of forwards this summer, with Daniel Briere heading the list of scorers Philly would like to move.
• The Lightning seem willing to give Ryan Malone to any teams willing to take the remaining six years and $25.5 million on his contract. In fact, there were reports that Tampa Bay would throw in the second overall pick in as part of the overall deal.

That final item is fascinating. The Blues have some big money coming off the books after next season. This franchise could use some beef up front, will smaller forwards like Lars Eller and Aaron Palushaj coming down the pike.

If this franchise could get the second overall pick – John Tavares or Victor Hedman – while also adding long-term muscle, it would have to look at that closely.