NHL - Sports Rumors
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Wednesday, Jul 9, 2008 1:05 EDT
Demitra says he expects to sign with Canucks
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The last few weeks hasn't exactly been the easiest for Vancouver Canuck fans. They've had to endure seeing free agent forward Mats Sundin spurn a $20 million contract offer, long-term Canucks like Markus Naslund and Brendan Morrison sign with other teams and former-Canuck forward Todd Bertuzzi sign with division rival the Calgary Flames. However, some good news might finally be on the horizon in Vancouver.
In an interview with Vancouver radio station CKNW, free agent forward Pavol Demitra confirmed that the Canucks are his preferred destination and expects to sign with the team.
"I think there is a good chance," Demitra said. "[Current Canucks GM Mike Gillis] used to be my agent for a long time. We are very good friends. I am very interested in playing for [the Canucks]."
Demitra was recently in town to visit with former teammate Geoff Courtnall, the two played together in St. Louis, and confirmed that the Canucks fit what he is looking for in a team.
"I want to play for a team that is going to win, [one] who is going to compete for the playoffs and the Stanley Cup."
Source: TSN.ca
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Tuesday, Jul 8, 2008 16:53 EDT
Ottawa signs Jason Smith to 2-year contract
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The Ottawa Senators signed defenseman Jason Smith to a $5.2-million, two-year contract on Tuesday. The 14-year NHL veteran was an unrestricted free agent. He was captain of the Philadelphia Flyers last season and was captain of the Edmonton Oilers the five previous seasons.
Smith, who will receive $2.6 million in each season, led the Flyers with 204 blocked shots and 142 hits in 77 games last season. He also had 10 points (1-9) and 86 penalty minutes. The 34-year-old Calgary native has averaged 202 blocked shots per year in each of the last three seasons and is one of only three NHL players (Anton Volchenkov - 671, Smith - 608 and Niclas Havelid - 601) to block more than 600 shots since the start of the 2005-06 season.
Smith has 168 points (40-128) and 1,052 penalty minutes in 945 career NHL games with the New Jersey Devils, Toronto Maple Leafs, Edmonton Oilers and Philadelphia.
Source: TSN.ca
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Tuesday, Jul 8, 2008 14:05 EDT
Rangers sign defenseman Mara to 1-year deal
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The New York Rangers have re-signed veteran defenseman Paul Mara to a $1.95-million, one-year deal.
The 28-year-old was an unrestricted free agent. He had 17 points (1-16) and 52 penalty minutes in 61 games with the Rangers last season. The six-foot-four, 212-pound Mara has 218 points (58-160) and 546 penalty minutes in 563 career NHL games.
Also Tuesday, the Rangers announced that former Phoenix Coyotes general manager Mike Barnett has been named director of U.S. amateur scouting and senior adviser to the president and GM.
Source: TSN.ca
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Tuesday, Jul 8, 2008 10:11 EDT
Lightning come to terms with Recchi
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The Tampa Bay Lightning continued to pile on veteran support on Monday, signing forward Mark Recchi to a one-year, $1.25 million contract that's worth $1.5 million with incentives.
Recchi, 40, split last season between the Atlanta Thrashers and Pittsburgh Penguins. He played in only 19 of the Penguins' 26 games with just two goals and six assists. He has been a healthy scratch in seven of their last eight games before the team place him on waivers in December.
The Thrashers acquired Recchi off the wire, and the Kamloops, B.C. native scored 12 goals and 40 points in 53 games with Atlanta. Recchi, who has 522 goals and 1,381 points in 1,410 career NHL games, made $1.75 million last season. The 19-year veteran won a Stanley Cup with the Penguins in 1991, and helped lead the Carolina Hurricanes to their first championship in 2006.
Recchi joins a host of new forwards that the Lightning have signed in the offseason, including former Pittsburgh teammates Ryan Malone, Adam Hall and Gary Roberts along with Radim Vrbata and the re-acquired Vinny Prospal.
Source: TSN.ca
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Tuesday, Jul 8, 2008 9:58 EDT
Morrison expected to sign with Ducks
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Free agent centre Brendan Morrison is off the free agent list and appears set to join the Anaheim Ducks. Terms of the impending contract are not known, but it is expected to be a one- or two-year deal.
Morrison is still rehabbing after undergoing knee surgery on April 7 to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament. It is Morrison's fourth surgery in the past two years. Over the past week, Morrison has turned down offers from nine teams including the Minnesota Wild, Columbus Blue Jackets and Los Angeles Kings.
Last week, Morrison turned down a one-year, $1.9 million offer from the Vancouver Canucks, the team he has spent the past eight seasons with. It appeared that the Canucks were hoping Morrison would be their 'fall-back' position if they are unable to sign Mats Sundin. He wasn't prepared to wait. The move will reunite Morrison with the former Canucks general managers Brian Burke and Dave Nonis, who both work in Anaheim's front office.
Morrison, 32, scored nine goals and 25 points in 39 games with the Canucks last season and spent most of the campaign on the shelf with wrist and knee injuries.
Source: TSN.ca
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Tuesday, Jul 8, 2008 9:45 EDT
Bettman orders end to Lowe-Burke feud
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NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman is apparently going to have the last word on the feud between Brian Burke and Kevin Lowe. Bettman, in a conference call Monday with Burke, the Ducks' general manager, and Lowe, the Edmonton Oilers' GM, ordered them to stop.
"The NHL, in response to Kevin Lowe's comments over the weekend, has ordered both Burke and Lowe to both cease and desist," the Ducks said in a statement.
No fines or penalties were handed out.
Lowe ripped Burke on an Edmonton radio station Friday, calling him a "moron" and a "media junkie." Lowe also made disparaging comments about the Southern California hockey market.
The tirade was in response to Burke's criticism of Lowe last week, which came after the Ducks re-signed winger Corey Perry to a five-year, $26.63-million contract. Burke blamed Lowe for the sharp rise in salaries for talented young players, citing the offer sheets Lowe tendered last summer to the Buffalo Sabres' Thomas Vanek and the Ducks' Dustin Penner.
Source: Los Angeles Times
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Tuesday, Jul 8, 2008 7:34 EDT
Flyers reward Holmgren with 3-year extension
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Philadelphia Flyers chairman Ed Snider told anyone who asked last season that he had the best general manager in the league. Monday Snider showed that he meant what he said and signed Paul Holmgren to a 3-year contract extension that will keep him as the head of the Flyers through the 2011-12 season.
"I am very proud of the job that Paul has done," Snider said. "He totally revamped our team and brought us back to respectability.''
For Holmgren the extension, in a way, marks the end of the turnaround that started on Oct. 22, 2006, the day Bob Clarke resigned as GM and head coach Ken Hitchcock was fired. Holmgren was given the job on an interim basis and then was extended through last season. At the time, the Flyers said they were not convinced he was right for the job and wanted to see how he would perform. Holmgren never blinked at the challenge, but started to rebuild the Flyers, bringing them from last in the league to the Eastern Conference final in 1 year.
Source: Philly.com
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Tuesday, Jul 8, 2008 7:10 EDT
Rangers, NHL eye Winter Classic at new Yankee Stadium
The New York Yankees were on board. The city was on board. And the NHL wanted to do it. But myriad logistical problems made it too costly and too difficult for the NHL to stage the next Winter Classic as the closing act at Yankee Stadium. Still, if the NHL won't be making history by closing the old ballpark, it could well wind up staging the first non-baseball sporting event in the new one.
The New York Daily News has learned that NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, Yankees COO Lonn Trost and mayor Mike Bloomberg concluded their discussions on the topic recently with each pledging their interest in playing a Winter Classic in the new Yankee Stadium — perhaps on New Year's Day 2010.
Wrigley Field will do the honors six months from now, serving as the site for a game between the Chicago Blackhawks and the defending Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings on Jan. 1, 2009. An official announcement from the NHL should come a few days before the league releases its entire 2008-09 schedule on Monday.
While it is certain that the Rangers would play in any Yankee Stadium game, choosing their opponent was one of the many thorny issues that complicated matters. The Islanders began investigating the possibility and meeting with Yankees officials a few years ago and understandably wanted to be included. The Devils, who wield considerable power at the Board of Governors level, wanted in as well.
But NBC, which scored big ratings with the 2008 Winter Classic between Buffalo and Pittsburgh at Ralph Wilson Stadium, views a game between two teams in the same metropolitan area as a ratings minimizer. The network wants a Rangers-Boston Bruins matchup that both has the cachet of an Original Six matchup — like Blackhawks-Red Wings - and brings the eyeballs of two major television markets to the sets.
Source: New York Daily News
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Monday, Jul 7, 2008 9:43 EDT
Wild, Nolan agree on 2-year, 2.75 million deal
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Free agent forward Owen Nolan has agreed to a two year deal with the Minnesota Wild worth $2.75 million a season. Nolan, 36, recorded 32 points and 71 penalty minutes in 77 games with the Calgary Flames in 2007-08.
"Owen Nolan is a true power winger who can score goals, play a physical brand, play either wing and take face-offs," Wild president and general manager Doug Risebrough said in a statement. "We are excited to add a player of his experience and versatility."
The 16-year veteran, taken first overall by the Quebec Nordiques in the 1990 NHL Entry Draft, is a five-time NHL All-Star (1992, 1996, 1997, 2000 and 2002) and has collected 807 points and 1,727 PIM in 1,068 career matches with Quebec, Colorado, San Jose, Toronto, Phoenix and Calgary.
The Wild also signed goalie Barry Brust to a multiyear contract and right wing Jesse Schultz to a one-year deal on Sunday.
Source: TSN.ca
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Monday, Jul 7, 2008 9:40 EDT
Blackhawks, Red Wings will play at Wrigley Field
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The Minneapolis Star Tribune is reporting that the Chicago Blackhawks and Detroit Red Wings will play at Wrigley Field on New Year's Day in the league's second outdoor Winter Classic.
According to the report, the game was finally approved last week when NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman met with the Hawks, Cubs and Mayor Richard Daley. The NHL has said that an official announcement likely won't be made until closer to the time the 2008-09 season schedule is released, likely in mid-July.
However, the report states that an announcement is expected next week before the inaugural "Blackhawks Convention" at the Chicago Hilton.
Source: Star-Tribune
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