Done Deal For Datsyuk; Red Wings forward signs 3-year, [$22.5] million extension
Blog: The Malik Report By Paul
06/18/13 at 10:50 AM ET | Comments (35)
Updated 21x at 2:44 PM, and FYI, Datsyuk's goal against Nashville's up in the second TSN Play of the Year showdown semifinal: the Detroit News's Ted Kulfan has the financial parameters:
(as many have pointed out, it's technically $7.667 million oh hell with it, it's $7.5 million per the Tweets below)
The Free Press's Helene St. James summarized the situation nicely...
The deal has been a foregone conclusion since May 31, the day the Wings cleaned out their lockers two days after being bounced in the second round of the playoffs. Datsyuk said at the time he planned to stay in Detroit past the expiration of his current seven-year, $46.9-million deal. There had been chatter for much of the season that he might return to his native Russia, where he could make a mint playing in the KHL and be closer to his 10-year-old daughter, Elizabeth.
Filed in: | The Malik Report | Permalink
NHL Notes After Game 3 Of The Stanley Cup Final
06/18/13 at 10:41 AM ET | Comments (0)
Information below provided by the NHL PR department,
LIFE OF PAI
Boston forward Daniel Paille scored his second game-winning goal in as many games, becoming the first player since 2006 – and only the second in the last 17 years – to record game-winning goals in consecutive Stanley Cup Final games (Edmonton’s Fernando Pisani, vs. Carolina in Games 5 and 6).
Someone scored consecutive game-winners in each of four straight Finals from 1992 through 1995: Pittsburgh’s Mario Lemieux in 1992, Montreal’s John LeClair in 1993, NY Rangers’ Glenn Anderson in 1994 and New Jersey’s Neal Broten in 1995. Each of their teams went on to win the Stanley Cup. (Elias)
Paille now has four goals in 19 games this postseason. He had four goals in 46 career playoff games entering 2013.
Three of Paille’s four goals in the 2013 postseason have been game-winners, tying him with teammate Nathan Horton and San Jose’s Logan Couture for second in the League. Paille had no playoff game-winning goals entering 2013.
Filed in: NHL Teams, Boston Bruins, Chicago Blackhawks, | KK Hockey | Permalink
The Good And Bad Of Mark Streit
06/18/13 at 09:18 AM ET | Comments (1)
from Sam Carchidi of Broad Street Bull,
When Streit is officially signed, he will have a $5.25 million cap hit per season. That means the Flyers’ top six defensemen next year - Kimmo Timonen, Luke Schenn, Nick Grossmann, Braydon Coburn, Andrej Meszaros and Streit - will have a combined $26.85 million cap hit for 2013-14. That’s 41.8 percent of the team’s $64.3 million cap.
Since 2006-07, Streit has 241 points in 367 games. According to TSN, that is the seventh-best points-per-game average (0.66) among NHL defensemen.
That’s the good news. The bad news (besides the fact the Flyers are getting older instead of acquiring a player like Keith Yandle): Over the last two years, Streit is minus-41, tied for the worst among league defensemen.
Streit is a similar player as former Flyer Matt Carle, who signed a six-year, $33 million deal ($5.5 million cap hit) with Tampa Bay as an UFA last year. Carle, an excellent shot blocker, was 27 at the time.
Streit will help the Flyers on the power play and he will trigger the offense by getting the puck to the forwards quickly. He is also a good leader.
That said, he is on the downside of his career, and Holmgren is taking an expensive risk.
a bit more...
Filed in: NHL Teams, Philadelphia Flyers, | KK Hockey | Permalink
Life Is Good In Boston
06/18/13 at 09:07 AM ET | Comments (0)
from Dan Shaughnessy of the Boston Globe,
The Blackhawks are supposed to be a great hockey team. They won the Cup three years ago and set an NHL record when they came out of the gate without losing any of their first 24 games in regulation. They recovered from a 3-1 series deficit against Detroit. They overwhelmed the defending Stanley Cup champs from Los Angeles. They went 10-1 in their first 11 home playoff games.
But something changed after Chicago dominated the first period of Game 2. The Bruins came out flying in the second period of Game 2 and have crushed the Hawks’ spirit over the last five periods. The Blackhawks are taking on the look of the Penguins. They can’t believe how hard it is to score against the Bruins. A couple of fights broke out Monday in the closing seconds....
It is a mistake to think this series is over. We know better. But the Bruins are just two wins away from another Cup and they are playing textbook, almost perfect hockey. They even managed to get it done without overtime in Game 3.
Friday is the first day of summer and the Stanley Cup is within the grasp of the Bruins. Life is good.
Filed in: NHL Teams, Boston Bruins, Chicago Blackhawks, | KK Hockey | Permalink
Heatley Buyout May Not Be An Option For The Wild
06/18/13 at 08:52 AM ET | Comments (4)
from Michael Russo of the Star Tribune,
When the Wild acquired Jason Pominville on April 3, the team seemed destined to use a compliance buyout this offseason on veteran Dany Heatley.
That’s now unlikely to happen.
The NHL salary cap drops to $64.3 million for 2013-14. The Wild’s will be about $63.9 million because performance bonuses achieved by Jonas Brodin put the Wild over last year’s cap. The Wild, as it stands today, has about $6.2 million to fill out next year’s roster.
Heatley would have been an ideal candidate for a compliance buyout. The team would still be on the hook for two-thirds of his $5 million salary, but the buyout would create a much-needed $7.5 million in salary-cap relief.
But on the same day the Wild traded for Pominville, Heatley tore the labrum in his left shoulder. He underwent surgery five days later and was given a four- to six-month recovery time.
That timetable is significant because an injured player cannot be bought out.
Filed in: NHL Teams, Minnesota Wild, | KK Hockey | Permalink
Report- Familiar Names As Possible Investors For The Devils
06/18/13 at 08:43 AM ET | Comments (9)
from Josh Kosman and Larry Brooks of the New York Post,
The New Jersey Devils must have a guardian angel.
The National Hockey League is in talks with two investors about taking a minority stake in the money-losing team, The Post has learned.
The deal under discussion with ex-Tampa Bay Lightning owner Oren Koules and former pro hockey player Brian Lawton would allow the pair to take eventual ownership of the cash-strapped franchise if they cover losses beyond a certain point, according to sources.
“A deal is not far off,” one source said.
Filed in: NHL Teams, New Jersey Devils, | KK Hockey | Permalink
Rangers Will Have A New Look
06/18/13 at 08:40 AM ET | Comments (0)
from Larry Brooks of the New York Post,
A more traditional — but not loose — defensive zone structure should give wingers more time and space through the neutral zone and on the entry. It should play to the strengths of Chris Kreider, a great skater with a big-time shot who is far better getting the puck on the wing in open ice than hunting for it along the boards and below the goal line.
There has been no definitive decision regarding the fate of Brad Richards, but Vigneault’s system would free him from much of the low defensive-zone traffic in which he had been enmeshed through his first two years as a Ranger and afford him (alternate meaning) more opportunity to get into and operate in open ice.
Changes in their defensive structure should allow the Rangers to possess the puck more often. In their two Presidents’ Trophy-winning seasons, the Canucks ranked fifth and seventh in five-on-five Corsi rankings per 60 minutes (percentage of attempted shots vs. attempted shots against) and the Rangers were 26th in that category when they finished second overall to Vancouver by one point in 2010-11.
The skill guys should benefit under Vigneault. The wear-and-tear guys shouldn’t be as worn-and-torn. The Rangers will still want to own the ground game — the Blackhawks have the most speed in the league, but their game is built on puck pressure — but the Rangers should present a more diversified approach this time around.
Filed in: NHL Teams, New York Rangers, | KK Hockey | Permalink
Red Wings overnight report: Damien Brunner intends to make the Wings sweat, contractually speaking
Blog: The Malik Report By George Malik
06/18/13 at 04:20 AM ET | Comments (21)
While the Grand Rapids Griffins attempt to avoid a winner-take-all situation by capitalizing on their 3-games-to-2 lead over the Syracuse Crunch in Game 6 of the Calder Cup Final this evening (7 PM EDT, WOOD TV in Grand Rapids/FoxSportsDetroit.com across Michigan, AHLLive.com everywhere, Time Warner Cable in New York, and WOOD Radio), the Red Wings' roster picture will have gotten a bit clearer back in Metro Detroit.
The news that Pavel Datsyuk's going to ink a 3-year contract extension, and that Pavel Datsyuk's "big day" will involve sitting down to lunch with Ken Holland and Datsyuk's agent, Gary Greenstin (so say MLive's Ansar Khan, Fox Sports Detroit's Art Regner and the Macomb Daily's Chuck Pleiness) to get the final details worked out so that Datsyuk can sign on the dotted line on July 5th (he still has a year remaining on his current contract, so a 3-year extension translates to 4 more seasons of play, knock on wood). The only thing Datsyuk needs to worry about losing, if anything, is his first of two TSN Play of the Year semifinals.
Filed in: | The Malik Report | Permalink
Coyotes’ fate not necessarily in the NHL’s hands
Blog: KK Hockey By George Malik
06/18/13 at 02:38 AM ET | Comments (5)
One way or another, the Phoenix Coyotes' fate will be determined by June 26th of this year, and, as the Globe and Mail's David Shoalts suggests, the NHL won't be making the call:
The fate of the Phoenix Coyotes is now in the hands of the (mostly) new city council of suburban Glendale.
A tentative lease agreement with Renaissance Sports & Entertainment, headed by Canadian businessmen George Gosbee and Anthony LeBlanc, for Jobing.com Arena will be presented to the seven-member council at its regular in-camera meeting on Tuesday. Sources familiar with the negotiations say the deal will produce something close to the $15-million (all currency U.S.) annually Renaissance was seeking, although it may not be structured strictly as an arena management fee.
Glendale council, which includes four new members who were elected late last year, will have a week to study the agreement and ask questions before a vote for approval is expected at its regularly scheduled public meeting on June 25.
And if the council nixes the deal, the Coyotes will move to Seattle, as Shoalts explains...
Filed in: | KK Hockey | Permalink
The [crappier] the ice, the better it is for Boston?
Blog: KK Hockey By George Malik
06/18/13 at 02:32 AM ET | Comments (3)
As Pro Hockey Talk's James O'Brien noted, Boston Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask described the ice at the TD Garden as "shitty" in a post-game interview with NBC's Pierre McGuire, and the Hockey News's Ken Campbell believes that the conditions suit the Bruins' game to a tee:
After a Game 1 that produced both a thrilling regulation and overtime, the past two games have been far less than that in terms of both the quality of chances and excitement. Part of the reason is when you lock your players out for three months, you’re playing Game 3 on June 17 when the temperatures are well above 80 degrees. Not surprisingly, the ice was terrible. Bruins captain Zdeno Chara lost an edge and fell in the warm-up and required stitches to close a gash over his eye. The puck was bouncing all over the place, including on a Brad Marchand breakaway that was scuttled because the puck caught a chunk on the ice.
“It is pretty bad,” Seidenberg said. “When you try to shoot, try to swing your blade on the ice, it feels like sandpaper. It’s really rough. When you try to pass, the puck bounces. That’s why you have to keep the game simple. If there’s a play to be made, you have to make sure it’s an easy one.”
And isn’t that nice in the league’s marquee event? Just what you want when everyone is watching, defensemen chipping the puck off the boards to get it out of their zone and forwards being mugged and slashed as they try to go to the net to create the goals…You know, those things they count to see which team wins.
Campbell continues at some length.
Filed in: | KK Hockey | Permalink
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