Monthly Archives: May 2011
Mike Comrie and Alex Kovalev — won't be re-signed.
“I’m not sure what Mike’s going to do,” Shero said. “He might be leaning toward retirement.” Comrie, 30, was signed as a free agent last summer. He had a strong preseason but sustained a right hip injury in the second game of the season that eventually required surgery in December. He returned to play sparingly late in the season, finishing with one goal, six points in 21 games. He did not crack the lineup in the playoffs.
With Kevin Bieksa fitting so seamlessly with Dan Hamhuis as a shutdown pair, it seems in*****bent upon the Vancouver Canucks to re-sign him this summer. They would miss Christian Ehrhoff’s big shot, but if he walks away, so be it. They still have Alex Edler as their No. 1 guy, and maybe they could bring back Sami Salo for a reduced price. The kid who’s going to wedge himself into lots of playing minutes next year is Chris Tanev. They’ll have to live with Keith Ballard’s $4 million a year for four more years.
Kid Rock is a self-proclaimed Rock ‘n’ Roll Jesus and a favourite son of Detroit, no doubt, but he ain’t big enough in the Peg City to bump back a press conference to announce the return of the NHL. Some are suggesting a Kid Rock show, potential marketing plans and even Gary Bettman’s schedule are playing havoc with the scheduling of the biggest announcement in Winnipeg sports in over a decade.
It’s been six weeks since Ottawa Senators general manager Bryan Murray fired Cory Clouston as the team’s coach, but Murray is only getting serious in the search for a replacement. “We’ve really just started,” Murray said Wednesday from Toronto, where he was watching the Memorial Cup tournament. “We just wanted to see who was available, and I think it’s pretty safe that none of the coaches on the final four teams (Vancouver, San Jose, Boston, Tampa Bay) will be available. We will get to it in the next week or so.”
Nicklas Lidstrom stays in shape, postpones decision
Red Wings defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom left on holiday Wednesday with close friend and teammate Tomas Holmstrom, which could create all sorts of problems if Holmstrom can’t break his habit of setting screens.
Mike Bab***** tries to sell Nicklas Lidstrom on team having another shot at Cup
If Nicklas Lidstrom returns next season, he will be playing for a competitive club that will remain a Stanley Cup contender after making a few offseason changes. That was the recruiting pitch Detroit Red Wings coach Mike Bab***** made to his indispensable defenseman Saturday at Joe Louis Arena, as players and staff gathered for the team photo and cleaned out their lockers.
Sorry folks. Got so caught up in my news story about Atlanta Spirit and True North negotiating about a possible sale that I didn’t give you a place to comment. Here is the start of the story, if you are late to the news. The Atlanta Spirit are in negotiations with True North Sports and Entertainment on the sale of the Thrashers, which would result in relocation to Winnipeg, according to a person familiar with the NHL’s sale process.
The World Hockey Championship provided an excellent stage for Jaromir Jagr to begin playing mind games with professional clubs on both sides of the Atlantic, as his contract with Avangard Omsk of the KHL is expired and it doesn’t appear he will be renewing with that team any time soon.
Ilya Bryzgalov to the Flyers?
Casting a net for Bryzgalov? As the regular season closed, Coyotes goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov made it clear that he had no interest in going to Winnipeg if the Phoenix franchise moved north. Too cold, and no place up there for the kids to play, noted the proud son of Togliatti, Russia. Sounds a little like Elton John’s “Rocket Man’’: “Mars ain’t the kind of place to raise your kids . . . in fact, it’s cold as hell.’’
Don’t the Predators have to trade one of their defencemen (Cody Franson and a second-round draft pick?) to get a scoring forward unless Alexander Radulov decides he’s tired of being a big fish in a small Kontinental Hockey League pond and comes back to Nashville? It was an eye-opener for Poile to see how small Patrik Hornqvist and Sergei Kostitsyn came up in the playoffs, especially against Vancouver. Total non-factors and top-six forwards. Not a good sign. Maybe the Predators should make a play for unrestricted free agent forward Tomas Fleischman, although his blood-clot (leg) situation is a worry. One thing in Nashville’s favour: one of the best U.S. world championship players was centre Craig Smith, a fourth-round pick in 2009, and a teammate of Blake Geoffrion at the University of Wisconsin.
Possible centers
I have not seen a Leafs article in a bit and I have been wanting to post this for a while now I was thinking of waiting till after the playoffs but anyways… We all know that the one thing leaf fans are demanding and that is “Center for Kessel.” sounds a lot like “Winger for Sundin,” looking at the playing field right now I have devised a few different options we could take and they are…
NOTE: These are not in an order of preference or by me predicting they are more likely to happen its just the order they came out of my head.
It may be weeks before authorities know exactly how and why New York Rangers enforcer Derek Boogaard died, although foul play is not immediately suspected. The 28-year-old player from Saskatoon was found dead Friday in his Minneapolis apartment. The team announced his death Friday but gave no details.
Connecting the various dots, it would appear that the Penguins are interested in mending fences with Jaromir Jagr , and that Jagr is interested in returning to the NHL. Add into that his hat trick Wednesday against the United States in Slovakia and, man, that sure sounds to me like a connection worth making. In fact, it sounds like a win-win-win.
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