Some Quick Hits from Around the League
Courtesy: US Presswire
-Congrats to Claude Giroux on being named captain of the Philadelphia Flyers.
-And more congrats to Henrik Zetterberg on being named captain of the Detroit Red Wings – only the third captain since 1986.
-The new accelerated compliance buyout is causing a stir around the league. Any player making over $3M can be bought out before the start of the season on Saturday. That buyout will reflect against this years cap ONLY. The Candiens will do this with Scott Gomez and the Rangers with Wade Redden. It’s a shame it’s come down to this, but it has to happen for teams to start getting rid of these big contracts. Look for the Isles to possibly buy out Rick Dipietro and his monster contract – they have to if they don’t want to pay him for the next 100 years.
-The Canadiens and P.K. Subban are still not close in negotiations. The defenseman is said to be holding out for a $5M+ contract but with Michael Del Zotto signing in NY for $2.75, Subban has to start thinking realistically. Also, with Subban not at camp, Andrei Markov will have to start getting back into form and stay healthy for the Habs to have any kind of scoring from the backend.
-We could have another ‘Rick Nash’ scenario with Vancouver and Roberto Luongo. GM Mike GIllis wants ‘equal value’ for Lou and won’t trade him for the sake of trading him. Could be a long wait or he could be dealt this week.
-KHL President Alexander Medvedev has been very critical about the NHL recently in regards to the NHL sending players to the 2014 Sochi Olympics in Russia:
“Not all the people who govern NHL teams have a hockey heart,” Medvedev was quoted as saying in some Russian media reports. Their hearts are made from another material and has money signs stuck to it. Several clubs look down on the international aspects of hockey development and think that it’s better to stew in your own stock. They could have released the players without any harm, but greed has strangled them and they didn’t allow it,” Medvedev was quoted as saying.
-Lubomir Visnovsky isn’t playing anywhere for the moment. The NHL and KHL are having representatives from each league handle the dispute. Visnovsky said he will not play for the Islanders but the KHL has an agreement with the NHL that keeps him from playing in their league. What a mess. I feel bad for the Isles – no one wants to play for them!
-The Caps scrimmaged their ECHL affiliate Reading Royals today at Kettler Ice Plex. The Caps won 8-0 in a ‘light scrimmage’. Ovechkin skated with Backstrom and Johansson and they looked pretty good. Mike Ribeiro centered Troy Brouwer and Woltek Wolski. Holtby and Neuvirth played in goal for the Reading team.
There’s a lot going on today and a lot more this week so stay tuned and I’ll do my best to keep up with everything that’s going on. Hit me up on Twitter with feedback and/or stories that you’ve come across that you’d like me to talk about. @_Mellin_
More to come…
