NHL: Player News and Rumors (Thread finished)

Sabres ink Kalinin to two-year deal
Sports Ticker
8/30/2006 1:17:50 PM

BUFFALO, New York (Ticker) -- Payroll concerns caused the Buffalo Sabres to pass on re-signing right wing J.P. Dumont. But they did not let Russian defenseman Dmitri Kalinin get away.

The Sabres on Wednesday re-signed Kalinin to a two-year contract worth $4 million. Kalinin will earn $1.75 million this year and $2.25 million next year.

Buffalo had a payroll of approximately $29 million last season but still advanced to the Eastern Conference finals, where they lost to the Carolina Hurricanes in seven games.

But the cost of re-signing restricted free agents moved the payroll closer to the $44 million salary cap for 2006-07. The biggest increase went to center Daniel Briere, who was awarded a one-year, $5 million contract in arbitration after making $1.93 million last season.

That caused the Sabres to turn away Dumont, the talented right wing who was awarded a one-year, $2.9 million contract in arbitration.

With only $7 million to work with under the cap, Sabres general manager Darcy Regier wants to use that money on Kalinin and starting goaltender Ryan Miller - both restricted free agents. Miller has yet to re-sign but Kalinin is in the fold for the next two years.

Kalinin, 26, had two goals and 16 assists with a team-high plus-minus rating of plus-14 last season. He had two assists in eight playoff games before suffering a broken foot in Game Two of the Eastern Conference semifinals at Ottawa on May 8.

A 1998 first-round pick, Kalinin has 26 goals and 82 assists in 338 career games with Buffalo. He posted career highs of 10 goals and 24 assists in 2003-04.
 

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Red Wings to retire Yzerman's jersey
Canadian Press
8/30/2006 1:52:19 PM

DETROIT (CP) - No player will ever again don Stevie Y's No. 19 in Hockeytown.

The Detroit Red Wings announced Wednesday they will retire Steve Yzerman's jersey number Jan. 2 in a pre-game ceremony at Joe Louis Arena.

"For a long time, there was no doubt in ownership's mind that Steve Yzerman would play his entire career with the Detroit Red Wings and that his sweater would fittingly go up into the rafters along with the other all-time greatest Red Wing players - Abel, Delvecchio, Howe, Lindsay and Sawchuk," senior vice-president Jim Devellano, who drafted Yzerman, said in a statement.

"As to picking a date, we wanted to be sure that this will be a very special evening and with that, it takes a lot of planning."

Yzerman's No. 19 will join Terry Sawchuk's No. 1, Ted Lindsay's No. 7, Gordie Howe's No. 9, Alex Delvecchio's No. 10 and Sid Abel's No. 12 as being retired by the Wings.

The 41-year-old Yzerman, who grew up in the Ottawa suburb of Nepean, announced his retirement July 3. He spent his entire 22-year career with the Red Wings and helped turn the franchise into one of the most successful of the modern era, winning three Stanley Cups.

Yzerman met with Devellano and general manager Ken Holland in Toronto on Tuesday, discussing the legend's future with the team. There has been talk of Yzerman joining the Wings' front office in some capacity.

"I'd love to have Steve come in and be a key member of organization - that's what we're discussing," Holland told the Detroit Free Press. "From our perspective, we want him to be as involved as Steve wants to be."

The team's captain since 1986, Yzerman played in 1,514 regular-season games, scoring 692 goals and racking up 1,755 points, sixth all-time in NHL history. A 10-time all-star, Yzerman was voted league MVP by his peers in 1989 and won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP in 1998. In addition to his Stanley Cup wins, Yzerman was a key part of Canada's gold-medal squad at the 2002 Olympics, playing the tournament essentially on one knee.

Yzerman is the Red Wings' all-time leader in playoff scoring. He ranks first in assists and second only to Howe in games played, goals and points in the regular season.

The one-hour ceremony Jan. 2 comes before a game against the visiting Anaheim Ducks.
 

Hurricanes sign Brad Isbister
TSN.ca Staff
8/30/2006 3:21:53 PM

The Carolina Hurricanes have signed left wing Brad Isbister to a one-year contract.

The deal will pay Isbister $600,000 at the NHL level and $95,000 at the AHL level.

''Brad adds size and depth to our corps of forwards,'' said Hurricanes president and general manager Jim Rutherford. ''His NHL experience will be an asset to our organization this season.''

The 29-year-old Isbister played in 58 games with the Boston Bruins last year, scoring six goals and dishing out 17 assists.

In eight NHL seasons Isbister has totals of 99 goals, 107 assists and 363 penalty minutes in 467 games with the Coyotes, Islanders, Oilers and Bruins.
 

Hockey Hearsay
August 30, 2006

Quinn takes shot at Leafs
Former Maple Leafs head coach Pat Quinn has finally voiced his opinion on his time in Toronto, and depending on where you sit, it wasn't complimentary.

"What is success today?" Quinn said on CKNW radio over the weekend. "Is it just winning the (Stanley) Cup, or being a team that makes money? ... I don't know who defines success today. We have a lot of those middle managers, so to speak, the presidents that don't have a clue what is going on but might be able to build the logo. But you know what builds the logo? Winning hockey games.

"Anybody else who says they can come in and make something work, it's like in Toronto, you don't need to be the village monkey to do anything. That thing is sold out when it was just a lousy team. Let the people who are given the job to run the hockey team, let them run it."

Despite what seemed an obvious dig at Leafs management, Quinn was quick to backtrack on the comments, saying the Toronto media has misinterpreted his words.

"That's a false interpretation," Quinn told the Toronto Star. "It's typical of the Toronto media. It was not intended to take any shots. We were talking about the game. It's typical of what happens with radio stations and writers too, they take little bits and use them the way they want to.

"The interpretation, or whatever is being done, is unfair to the comments that I've made and it's unfair to my feelings about my time in Toronto. It's typical. You say nothing, and it comes out however some jerk wants to put it or you say something and someone will interpret it the way they want."

More owners spend, more players pay
All the huge contracts the players have been taking from the owners could be akin to buying swampland in Jersey.

According to the Toronto Sun, one NHL agent is estimating escrow payments could be as high as 17.5% this season, a 5.5% increase from last year. The escrow payments are the amounts deducted from the players' salaries to cover the owners' over-spending.

The escrow payments have essentially idiot-proofed the over-spending ways of NHL general managers. If salaries exceed 54% of league revenues, the players are on hook to cover the shortfall. With salaries increasing league-wide and 'reported revenues' not keeping pace, it's likely all the high-priced contracts are just owners essentially spending players' money.
 


Havlat gets a chance to be 'the man'
Canadian Press
8/30/2006 3:55:49 PM

Martin Havlat never got the chance to be a first-line player in his five seasons with the Ottawa Senators, a team so deep in talent even a skilled winger of his magnitude found himself on the second or third line.

Not anymore. The 25-year-old Czech native will be the go-to guy this season in Chicago, which stands to reason since the Blackhawks gave him top-line money.

''The challenge is going to be great. It's going to be something new,'' Havlat said this week from Montreal, his off-season home. ''I'll have a different role than I had in Ottawa.''

You better believe it. After signing him to an $18-million US, three-year deal after acquiring him in a three-way trade from the Senators, the Hawks are going to give Havlat the kind of ice time and responsibility he craved in Ottawa.

''He's going to be our main guy,'' Hawks GM Dale Tallon said Wednesday from Chicago. ''We're excited about it. It's the type of player that we've been lacking for a lot of years. We haven't had a game-breaker like this in a long time, not too mention his charisma and personality.''

Havlat had 235 points (105-130) in 298 regular-season games with the Senators, putting up progressively better numbers every season since breaking into the league as a 19-year-old in October 2000. But a serious shoulder injury limited him to only 18 regular-season games last season, although he added 16 points (9-7) in 18 playoff games upon his return.

He's never played a full 82-game season, which is why Chicago's financial commitment to him sent murmurs around some corners of the hockey world.

''I'm sure there are a lot of people that say we paid too much,'' said Tallon. ''But there were other teams in the mix, too, there was competition for him. We know we paid a lot but we think we're getting value for it. We had to do something, we have to get interest back in the game here.''

The Hawks have been the league's doormat for most of the last decade, making the playoffs only once in eight seasons. Tallon has overhauled his team. Gone are forwards Kyle Calder, Mark Bell, Mathew Barnaby and Curtis Brown, replaced up front by Havlat, Michal Handzus, Denis Arkhipov and Bryan Smolinski. Rookie Tony Salmelainen also gets a shot this year.

''We'll be a faster team this year then they were last year,'' said Havlat, a comment echoed by Tallon.

Just what kind of production will the Hawks get from the speedy and skilled Havlat? He had a career-high 68 points (31-37) in 68 games with the Senators in 2003-04. And that wasn't with first-line ice time. Now Tallon says Havlat will likely play on the top line with Handzus at centre and Tuomo Ruutu on the left.

''I just want to be on the ice as much as I can because I think that's how I can help the team, when I'm out there - not if I'm sitting on the bench,'' said Havlat. ''I hope I'm going to be on the ice a lot in Chicago.''

The Senators had little choice but to deal him this summer. A restricted free agent, Havlat forced Ottawa's hand by refusing to sign a long-term deal one year away from unrestricted free agency. Even Chicago first met resistance.

''At first when we talked to Marty, they didn't want to come for more than a year,'' said Tallon. ''They wanted to test the waters (in unrestricted free agency next summer). So I sold them on the city, on the future and where we're going. That eventually led to us getting the deal done.''

Chicago, one of the world's great cities, wasn't a tough sell.

''That city is a little different than Ottawa. It's a little bit bigger,'' said Havlat. ''There's a lot of things to do, a lot of great restaurants. And it's a sports city, baseball, basketball, football. But people love their hockey and want us to win.''

The July 9 three-team blockbuster saw Chicago first trade winger Mark Bell to San Jose for defenceman Tom Preissing and prospect Josh Hennessy, who were flipped to the Senators along with prospect Michal Barinka and a 2008 second-round draft pick. Ottawa then dealt Havlat and Smolinski to Chicago.

''(Sharks GM) Doug Wilson and I had been working on a deal for months in advance, trying to get something done. He had a lot of interest in Mark,'' said Tallon. ''But we just didn't seem to have the right fit. Then we started hearing rumours from Ottawa that they might have difficult keeping Havlat. So it all sort of just fell into place.''

Havlat will head to Ottawa later this week and clean out his apartment and arrange for his furniture and personal things to find their way to Chicago, where he'll head Sept. 7. That's when it's really going to hit him, Havlat said, that he's no longer a Senator.

''I don't think I've realized it yet fully - once I go there next week and skate with the guys, that's when it'll totally sink in,'' he said.

His only regret leaving Ottawa is the obvious, not winning a championship with all those great teams.

''Sure, I was there for six years and every year we had great regular seasons,'' said Havlat, who had 34 career points (14-20) in 51 playoff games. ''The one year we were one game away from the Stanley Cup final (2003). The last two years we had one of the best teams in the league but just couldn't get into the final.

''We had great, great teams there and had great players. The fans were great. I was really fortunate to start my career over there. I'm happy for those six years in Ottawa, it was just missing a trip to the final.''

Note: Ruutu, a restricted free agent, remains unsigned but Tallon was confident on that front. ''We talked yesterday, we've been talking almost every day. We'll get something done here soon enough,'' said Tallon.
 


Some Sad News

Islanders draft pick Blaho killed in crash
Canadian Press
8/31/2006 9:22:31 AM

ZILINA, Slovakia (CP) - Slovak hockey player Stefan Blaho, a fourth-round pick of the New York Islanders, has died in a car accident. He was 21.

The International Ice Hockey Federation said the crash happened just after midnight Tuesday near the Slovak town of Krasnany. That evening Blaho had scored a goal for Slovak champion MsHK Zilina, the team he was about to sign for, in an exhibition game against Banska Bystrica.

Blaho spent the three last seasons in the Ontario Hockey League with Sudbury and Sarnia.

The forward, taken in the 2003 NHL entry draft, represented Slovakia in the 2003 IIHF world under-18 championship and the 2004 IIHF world under-20 championship.

Marcel Hanzal, a 32-year-old who last played for Dukla Trencin of the Slovak league, survived the crash.
 

Hurricanes sign tough guy Stephen Peat
Canadian Press
8/31/2006 11:26:05 AM

RALEIGH, N.C. (CP) - The Carolina Hurricanes have signed tough guy Stephen Peat to a one-year deal which will pay the winger $450,000 US in the NHL and $75,000 in the AHL.

The 26-year-old native of Princeton, B.C., appeared in only nine games last season as he battled a hand injury followed by a groin problem. He had one goal, two assists and 30 penalty minutes in eight AHL games split between Hershey and Lowell. He played one NHL game with Washington last October before getting dealt to Carolina on Dec. 28.

A second-round draft pick of the Anaheim Ducks in 1998, the 6-2, 235-pound Peat has eight goals, two assists and 234 penalty minutes in 130 career NHL games, all with Washington. He has seven points (3-4) and 148 penalty minutes in 49 career AHL games with Portland, Hershey and Lowell.
 

Zherdev, Columbus still not speaking
TSN.ca Staff
8/31/2006 12:12:15 PM

The chances Nikolai Zherdev will be playing in Columbus this season are dwindling.

Agent Rolland Hedges says he's not optimistic the two sides can get a deal done before October 6, adding no discussions are planned.

If Zherdev doesn't sign with the Blue Jackets before October 6, he will play this season for Russian club Khimik Voskresenk - something that general manager Doug MacLean appears to be resigned to happening.

"We haven't even had a number from them lately," MacLean tells the Columbus Dispatch. "I know my number, and it's a fair offer."

The Blue Jackets have reportedly offered Zherdev a two year deal worth almost $3.8-million after pulling a one year, $1.25-million deal off the table.

"We declined that (offer) many weeks ago," says Hedges. "It's frustrating for everyone involved. We just thought there would have been more in the way of meaningful discussions by this point. ... It's always, 'This is what we're prepared to do, take it or leave it.' "

MacLean says while he has an eye on the free agent market, he'll wait to see what the outcome of the Zherdev situation is before making his next move.

Zherdev, the fourth player taken overall in 2003, finished second in team scoring last season with 27 goals and 54 points.
 

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