NHL: Free Agency, Trade, Injury, and Rookie News!

Luongo turns down $25 mil/5 yrs and gets $3.2 mil/1 yr. That's kinda funny. Maybe he can get his team deep into the playoffs and get his 6 mil a year next off-season. Right.

There was a rumor a while back of a Luongo for Theodore trade, obviously made up by someone with more free time than good sense.

Why is it that when J.R., Brett, or Conroy speak candidly, its interesting or amusing, but when Belfour opens his yap, it spews drivel? I'm not so sure about the rule, either, but I have to say that Marty Brodeur was much more diplomatic about it.
 

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This one slipped by me earlier...

Canadiens sign Swiss blueliner Streit

TSN.ca Staff

8/25/2005 11:34:06 AM

The Montreal Canadiens announced that the team has signed Swiss defenceman Mark Streit to a one-year contract.

Streit, 27, played for the Zurich Lions in the Swiss Elite league for the past five seasons. He ranked third on the Lions in scoring in 2004-05 with 43 points (14 goals, 29 assists) in 44 games placing him among the league's top scoring defensemen. The native of Englisberg, Switzerland was selected in the ninth round, 262nd overall by the Canadiens at the 2004 NHL Entry Draft.

The 5-foot-11, 198-pounder has also made his mark on the international stage as the captain of the Swiss National team. Streit’s seven points in seven games at the 2005 World Hockey Championships helped lead an upstart Swiss team to a berth in the 2006 Olympics in Italy by virtue of their reaching the quarterfinals where they were only narrowly edged out 2-1 by Sweden.

Streit, who has played in the Swiss Elite League since 1995, spent the 1999-00 season in North America where he split time between the Tallahassee Tiger Sharks (ECHL), Utah Grizzlies (IHL) before playing 43 games with the AHL’s Springfield Falcons.
 

Why is it that when J.R., Brett, or Conroy speak candidly, its interesting or amusing, but when Belfour opens his yap, it spews drivel? I'm not so sure about the rule, either, but I have to say that Marty Brodeur was much more diplomatic about it.
Click to expand...

1. Because J.R and Brett (I assume you mean Hull) are idiots. And it's amusing whenever someone of lesser intellect speaks. I would know, I'm an idiot.

2. Belfour is not at all refined. Brodeur is. How he can come out smelling like a rose after a story broke, during the playoffs, that he had an affair going on with his sister in law, is beyond me.

3. I hate the "goalies handling the puck rule" as well. I think it unfairly restricts goaltenders. As I said before, the NBA didn't tell Shaq he can't slam because he's too tall, but the NHL tells goalies like Brodeur, Belfour and DiPietro they can't utilize their skills, because it hampers offensive production. I say bull s**t, removing the red line to allow two line passes will make the goaltenders lead pass a true offensive threat. Something teams will have to defend against when playing goaltenders with stickhandling skills. God, the NHL takes two steps forward, and one back.
 

devilbat said:
I hate the "goalies handling the puck rule" as well. I think it unfairly restricts goaltenders. As I said before, the NBA didn't tell Shaq he can't slam because he's too tall, but the NHL tells goalies like Brodeur, Belfour and DiPietro they can't utilize their skills, because it hampers offensive production. I say bull s**t, removing the red line to allow two line passes will make the goaltenders lead pass a true offensive threat. Something teams will have to defend against when playing goaltenders with stickhandling skills. God, the NHL takes two steps forward, and one back.
Click to expand...

The reason for the rule is that goaltenders stopping the puck interrupted the flow of the dump and chase. Dump the puck in, goaltender gets the puck when it goes behind the net and leaves it there for a defender (or passes it to one) instead of allowing it to travel along the boards to an attacker coming on the other side of the ice.

My problem is that I'm not sure how well it will stop this, and if it will even be necessary to stop this. If the NHL actually does crack down on clutching and grabbing, dump and chase may become a lesser offensive option than it was with the trap.

I'm also unsure about the red line going away. Give Jacques Lemaire a few weeks, he'll figure out a way clog up the opposition (especially with what he has to work with in Minny).

The only new rule I really like is the elimination of clutching and grabbing. It had better stick this time. I kinda like shootouts, but keeping the OT loss point is retarded. And they should have implimented no touch icing. Officials could make a judgement call as to wether it's a missed pass or intentional icing. I liked the idea of more playoff teams, too.
 

Report: Malkin staying in Russia

TSN.ca Staff

8/26/2005 12:26:33 PM

According to a report in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, highly-touted Russian centre Evgeni Malkin is not expected to play for the Pittsburgh Penguins before 2006.

Malkin, the 19 year-old selected by the Penguins second overall in the 2004 NHL Draft, is under contract to his hometown team, Metallurg Magnitogorsk, in the Russian Super League until 2008 and he's made it known that he intends to play there this winter.

"My feeling is that Evgeni will want to graduate to the NHL next year," Malkin's agent Pat Brisson told the paper. "It makes a lot of sense for him to next year graduate to the NHL."

With the Russian Ice Hockey Federation electing not to participate in the transfer agreement negotiated between the NHL and the International Ice Hockey Federation, it appeared unlikely that the Penguins would be able to land Malkin this season.

"He doesn't have an escape clause at this point," Brisson, who is also the agent for Penguins rookie Sidney Crosby, said. "But I don't think Magnitogorsk will hold him back after he gives them an extra season."

Magnitogorsk general manager Gennady Velichkin is naturally reluctant to see Malkin leave, stating in an interview on Rushockey.com: "Evgeni will go to the NHL, eventually. He's one of the best young Russian players. But, in my opinion, Malkin is not mature enough in order to become a star in the NHL. It's a little too early for Malkin to go. Also, he needs to work on his English, as well. But most important, he should return debts to his parents that brought him up, (to) the club that made him a hockey player and spent much power and resources. He should help Magnitogorsk win the championship."

Malkin ranked third on the team with 32 points in 52 games with Magnitogorsk last season.

While he admitted that the chance to win with a powerful Magnitogorsk team and play for the Russian national team weighed heavily in his decision, Malkin also indicated another influence in his own interview posted on RusHockey.com, telling the site, "Actually, I was ready to compete with Alexander (Ovehckin) and Sidney (Crosby) for the Calder Trophy. But my agents told me that it'd be easier to win the trophy in a year."

The Post-Gazette reports that the Penguins will also be without centre Milan Kraft, who will remain in the Czech Republic this year. Kraft, 25, scored 40 points in 66 games with Pittsburgh in 2003-2004 before tallying 25 points in 52 games last year in the Czech Republic. He was Pittsburgh's first-round pick, 23rd overall, in the 1998 draft.
 

Senators sign Ward, Heerema

TSN.ca Staff

8/26/2005 12:32:47 PM

The Ottawa Senators have signed defenceman Lance Ward and right-winger Jeff Hereema to one-year contracts.

Ward, 27, split the 2003-04 season between the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim and their American Hockey League affiliate, the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks. In 209 career NHL games with Anaheim and the Florida Panthers, he has recorded four goals, 12 assists, 16 points and 391 penalty minutes.

Heerema, 25, played with the Manitoba Moose in 2004-2005, scoring 44 points in 80 games. He has six points in 32 career NHL games after getting drafted by Carolina in the first round of the 1998 draft.
 

Phoenix trades Westrum, Wood to Wild for Michalek

Copied from www.NHL.com

11:16 PM EDT, 08/26/2005

GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) - The Phoenix Coyotes acquired defenseman Zbynek Michalek from the Minnesota Wild in exchange for center Erik Westrum and defenseman Dustin Wood on Friday.

Michalek, who signed with Minnesota as a free agent in September 2001, played 22 games for the Wild in 2003-04 and had one goal and one assist. He had seven goals and 17 assists in 76 games for the AHL's Houston Aeros last season.

Westrum, a former University of Minnesota star, was a seventh-round draft pick of Phoenix in 1998.

In 2003-04, Westrum had one goal and one assist in 15 games for the Coyotes. He played 80 games for the AHL's Utah Grizzlies last season and had 18 goals, 15 assists and 117 penalty minutes.

Wood, signed by Phoenix as a free agent in June 2004, played 80 games for Utah last season and had two goals and eight assists.
 

Transactions for Friday, August 26th

Mighty Ducks of Anaheim - Signed defenceman Jordan Smith to a three-year contract.

Detroit Red Wings - Re-signed defenceman Niklas Kronwall to a two-year contract.

Florida Panthers - Signed defenseman Dan Focht, who had been with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Ottawa Senators - Signed defenseman Lance Ward, who had been with the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, and right wing Jeff Hereema, who had been with the Vancouver Canucks, to one-year contracts.

Tampa Bay Lightning - Signed defenceman Jay Rosehill and goaltender Morgan Cey to multi-year contracts.

Phoenix Coyotes - Traded centre Erik Westrum and defenceman Dustin Wood to Minnesota for defenceman Zbynek Michalek.

Washington Capitals - Signed defenseman Mike Green, a 2004 first-round draft pick, to a three-year contract.
 



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