Only a few months into his tenure, Carolina Hurricanes general manager Ron Francis is ready to make changes.

The word amongst league executives is he’s been working the phones and he’s pretty much willing to discuss anybody except for young players the Hurricanes consider part of their core.

Given the fact the Hurricanes were winless in eight games heading into Saturday night, this is probably a good plan, but you wonder how just how much Francis can actually do to get this mess turned around.

With four years left at $7 million per-season, the underachieving Alexander Semin was a healthy scratch against the Arizona (don’t call me Phoenix) Coyotes on Saturday. The Canes would love to deal him but there’s no interest.

Naturally, the name of captain Eric Staal is going to be front and centre in all of this because there are several teams interested, not the least of which is the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Defenceman Andrej Sekera, who had 44 points last season and is making $2.75 million, will be highly sought after and will easily find a new home.

Francis, who was in Anaheim and Phoenix scouting last week, is about to find out it’s easy to say you’re open for business but actually doing anything in a salary cap world is a whole other story.

AROUND THE BOARDS

The Coyotes haven’t gotten off to the kind of start anybody expected and that has GM Don Maloney contemplating a big changes. A month into the season and they are closer to last place than first in the difficult West. The name of defenceman Keith Yandle has surfaced again because he’s one of the club’s most attractive commodities. If the Coyotes want to do something big, Yandle is their best bargaining chip. Making $5.25 million, he’s 18 months or so away from unrestricted free agency and he’ll want to cash in. Oliver Ekman-Larsson has emerged as the club’s top blueliner while the club also has Michael Stone, Chris Summers and Brandon Gormley, who isn’t happy in the minors. Up front, the club will try to keep top centre Antoine Vermette but that doesn’t sound like it’s going to happen. He’ll be one of the most sought after forwards at the trade deadline and you can expect he’ll cash in with long-term deal in the $7-million range as a UFA on July 1 ... There is a sense St. Louis GM Doug Armstrong is looking to make changes by adding a forward. If he does that, the Blues have to take money off the books because they don’t have the cap space to take on anymore cash. St. Louis has listened to offers for winger T.J. Oshie in the past and he’d be a good chip in discussions.

GOOD GOSSIP

The Sabres are in no rush to move winger Chris Stewart, but there’s no shortage of interest. The Boston Bruins and Ottawa Senators have both made inquiries on Stewart but you can add the Penguins to that list as well. GM Jim Rutherford has been sniffing around for another forward since camp started. Right now, GM Tim Murray may have to sell low because Stewart isn’t exactly playing well. Murray wants a big return but that will change by the deadline ... New York Islanders GM Garth Snow isn’t exactly working the phones but the talk is he’d like to move winger Cal Clutterbuck if anybody is interested. With a cap hit of $2.75 million through 2016-17, it’ll be difficult to move a guy who has two points in 10 games and has fallen to the fourth line ... The word out of Detroit is there is no real progress to report on the future of winger Daniel Alfredsson. He has been skating on and off. The Wings are willing to wait as long as it takes, but it doesn’t look great. If he does decide to play, Alfredsson would sign a deal with games-played bonuses with the Wings. A decision could come soon.

RUMOURS DU JOUR

It doesn’t sound like defenceman Paul Martin is long for Pittsburgh. The chances of him being signed before he becomes a UFA on July 1 are slim and his role has slipped since coach Mike Johnston took over. While Martin isn’t going anywhere until teammate Olli Maatta’s health situation is clarified, the reality is the veteran will likely be gone by the deadline. A team that may have interest in Martin is San Jose. Sharks GM Doug Wilson, who many of his peers call a “tirekicker,” wants a top-four defenceman, but the word amongst league executives is “he doesn’t want to give anything up.” That doesn’t usually bode well for making a deals ... Teams are starting to wonder at what point Winnipeg Jets GM Kevin Chevaldayoff will try to improve his team by moving forward/defenceman Dustin Byfuglien, who has been playing mostly up front. Chevaldayoff is another guy who doesn’t like touching his roster, but the Jets are putting the goodwill to the test in Winnipeg and it might be time to make a move or two to improve ... Confirm or deny: At first, Mark Hunter told the Maple Leafs ‘no thanks’ when they offered him the director of player personnel job. Then, the Leafs upped the ante to make it more attractive for the well-respected Hunter to leave his junior hockey operation in London. The talk is this negotiation went on for a long time.

Have a nice Sunday.

Twitter: @sungarrioch