Category Archives: HTR Feature Article
Tweet from rds.ca
If the NHL go ahead with a lock-out Saturday, a group of Montreal Canadiens players will ask the Quebec Labour Board to stop it
If the NHL go ahead with a lock-out Saturday, a group of Montreal Canadiens players will ask the Quebec Labour Board to stop it.
— Renaud Lavoie (@RenLavoieRDS) September 9, 2012
Reports Shane Doan has signed four-year $21.5 million extension with Coyotes
The Canucks were hoping a gold-medal winning veteran with a cap hit of about $5 million would be reporting to training camp this month.
And it’s true, one is planning to. But he’s the wrong one.
Roberto Luongo may be in Vancouver next week and prepared to report to camp, if camp ever happens. So he’s in. For now. But Shane Doan appears to be out, according to reports which have him agreeing to a four-year, $21.5 million extension with the Phoenix Coyotes, pending the completed sale of the club to Greg Jamison.
The Canucks had tabled a similar offer, though the money wasn’t quite as much, and still believe they have the best chance to be Doan’s Plan B. But that Plan B is disappearing faster than those polar bears on Lost.
Doan represented an opportunity to significantly and instantly improve the Canucks, which explains why they were pursuing him with a courtship which included a dinner at the city’s Italian Kitchen.
Doan kept saying it wasn’t about the money, and it hasn’t been as the Phoenix deal is significantly less than the $30-million contract he was offered.
Ducks’ Ryan speaks out again, but contritely
Angered by his name continuously swirling in trade rumors, Bobby Ryan unleashed his frustration with Ducks management earlier this summer and then tuned out. For the first time since he said he’d be fine with being dealt, Ryan addressed those comments and asserted that his first desire is to be with the team that drafted him second overall in 2005 and watched become a goal-scoring sniper.
“I wanted to come back to (my home in) Newport Beach and come back to this team and this group of guys,” Ryan said Wednesday after a voluntary workout at Anaheim Ice. “Always. That was the No. 1 thing.”
Skating with teammates and other NHL players as they await the prospect of a lockout, Ryan was making his first appearance back in Southern California after a summer of tumult largely of his own doing.
The winger lashed out in June while Ducks officials were at the NHL Draft, telling a New Jersey-based newspaper that the team has “shown me nothing to prove that they want me here, unfortunately.”
“Obviously, it’s not the ideal situation,” he told the Camden Courier-Post. “When you get drafted, you want to win championships with that team and every time they look to add a piece to the puzzle, I’m the piece going the other way.
“I gotta be honest with you. At this point, I don’t care. Move me … because it’s just tough going to the rink every day knowing that if something goes wrong, you’re going to be the guy moved.”
Ryan said he now regrets doing the interview with a reporter that his father knew while he was participating in an all-day charity golf tournament, calling it “a mistake and a slip up on my part.”
http://www.ocregister.com/sports/ryan-370613-murray-point.html
DOAN SAYS HE HAS DEAL WITH COYOTES, AWAITING JAMISON PURCHASE
In an interview with a Phoenix radio station, Coyotes captain revealed some good news for Coyotes fans.
One, that prospective owner Greg Jamison has secured the money to purchase the Coyotes and two, that he’s agreed to a new deal with the team; he’s just waiting on Jamison to acquire the team to make it official.
“My goal has been to stay here the whole time,” Doan told radio station XTRA 910 in Phoenix. “Don and Tip and the organization have been great. We have a deal worked out that we just want to make sure that the team gets signed and that everything gets done and it gets done before the 15th.”
Doan went on to say that Jamison has the funds to complete the deal to purchase the Coyotes and is optimistic it will go through soon.
“Mr. Jamison has the money. Mr. Bettman has said its all good, according to the NHL, and it’s going to go through. It’s just a matter of getting the lease agreement done now. Obviously that was done earlier. Now there are some things they decided they wanted to change, which obviously can delay things. With that being said, I think that Mr. Jamison and the league have stated it’s really up to Glendale and Glendale, they had it done for a while.”
Jackets Tried To Sign Jagr
The Blue Jackets, looking for top six forward help even before they traded franchise winger Rick Nash in July, attempted to make a splash in free agency by signing an NHL legend.
Lubomir Visnovsky pleads his case today to overturn trade to Islanders
Lubomir Visnovsky, acquired by the Islanders on draft night a little more than a month ago, has filed a grievance through the NHL Players’ Association to void the trade from the Ducks, contending that his no-trade clause is still valid and Anaheim never got his permission to make the deal.
Should he win his grievance, the trade that sent him to the Islanders for a 2013 second-round pick would be rescinded, though Visnovsky’s agent told Newsday that the 35-year-old defenseman has no issues with the Isles.
“[General manager Garth Snow] has been great to him, they’ve had good conversations and Lubo likes what he’s heard about how they want to use him,” Neil Sheehy, Visnovsky’s agent, said. “But this has really nothing to do with the Islanders. For Lubo, this is about establishing what’s right and whether a team has the right to move him in the manner that they did.”
Visnovsky signed a five-year, $28-million contract with the Oilers in 2008 and waived his no-trade clause to allow a deal to the Ducks at the 2009-10 trade deadline. Visnovsky contends the Ducks needed his approval, in the form of a 10-team list to which he would allow a trade, this summer. That was never asked for before the June 22 deal.
Recent server stuff at HTR
As many of you know the site has been alittle off for the past while. This is partially because the server that htr is on has been completely hijacked. I have had to filter comments because of the mass amounts of robot spam that is landing on the pages of htr. I am in the process of switching servers and trying to restore the problems. I hope that you can all understand that there are some major problems that i am trying to work though here. I do not filter the comments directly. I have had to put in a maga filter that does this.
Four Free Agent Defencemen The Edmonton Oilers Could Pursue Next Summer
Next summer’s crop looks even weaker, with few candidates available who can reasonably step in and play top-four minutes. The best of the bunch from a long-term Oilers perspective is likely this group of four:
Alexander Edler. The offensive defenceman hit career highs last year in goals (11) assists (38) points (49) and shots (228). The Canucks leaned on Edler heavily in an offensive role to make up for the departure of Christian Ehrhoff – he got power play time, tons of offensive starts and typically managed to duck the toughest assignments (which went to the Hamhuis/Bieksa pairing). Despitep laying those sorts of minutes for the powerhouse Canucks, Edler finished with a disappointing plus/minus (even) and struggled mightily in the post-season. Still, as a 6’3”, 27-year old offensive defenceman playing top-four minutes on a contender, he’s going to get paid.
Rob Scuderi. The no-nonsense defensive defender was overshadowed by regular partner Drew Doughty’s transcendent play en route to Los Angeles’ Stanley cup victory, but even so he logged heavy minutes on the Kings’ blue line and offers major value to any team as a shutdown defender. At 34, he’s in the tail end of his career yet is still young compared to much of 2013’s free agent class.
Ian White. Last summer, the Detroit Red Wings paid him less than $3 million/season on a two-year deal. He’s likely to get both more money and term this time around. The 29-year old White found success in a top-pairing role in Detroit (he actually led the Red Wings blue line in time on ice at even-strength last year). Now, he’ll need to prove he can be successful without Lidstrom – a partner who seemed to help him significantly last year.
Jordan Leopold. A regular member of the Buffalo Sabres’ top four last season, Leopold’s the sort of cheaper option some team will be forced to settle for next summer. The 32-year old isn’t a high-end offensive option but is capable in both zones and with or without the puck.
Report: Keith Yandle ‘Would Love to Play for the Bruins’
Read more at: http://www.nesn.com/2012/09/report-keith-yandle-would-love-to-play-for-the-bruins.html
Roberto Luongo looking over the shoulders of Panthers goalies Clemmensen and Theodore
In a bizarre, slightly uncomfortable scene at Saveology.com Iceplex Tuesday morning, current Panthers starter Jose Theodore was beginning an informal practice with several teammates just moments after estranged Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo had finished his own skate.
Luongo has made it clear that since Canucks General Manager Mike Gillis promoted goalie Cory Schneider to starter after giving him a three-year, $12 million contract extension, that he wants to be traded to the Panthers, the franchise he established his All-Star credentials with from 2001-06 and back to an area he maintains an offseason residence with his wife and two young children.
So, Luongo was literally about to sneak out the back door to avoid a potentially awkward situation for fellow Quebec native Theodore, whose job he covets. Luongo spoke to the Sun Sentinel before leaving.
“It’s been a tough summer, not knowing what’s going to happen … with your family and everything,” Luongo told the Sun Sentinel while changing inside the cramped visitor’s locker room a few feet from where the Panthers were skating.
“[The Panthers] makes sense for myself, for my career and my family,” added Luongo, who has 10 years at $5.33 million per remaining on his deal. “This is a preferred location for obvious reasons, but I’m not shutting the door on other possibilities.”
Luongo, 33, has been linked to the Chicago Blackhawks and Toronto Maple Leafs, both with glaring needs for an elite goalie. Panthers General Manager Dale Tallon has repeatedly said he’s content with his current goalie trio, that includes Theodore, Scott Clemmensen and promising Swede Jacob Markstrom.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/florida-panthers/fl-florida-panthers-0905-20120904,0,3137532.story
Kovalev coming back to NHL?
Alex Kovalev, who turns 40 in February, aims to return to the NHL and says he has a couple of tryout offers.
The Russian spent last season in the KHL with Atlant Mytischi but played only 22 games because of injuries. Once an offensive star in the NHL, Kovalev managed only one goal and five assists.
The winger was in Switzerland this week training with the Servette Geneva team. Kovalev said he plans to go to the U.S. to work out but did not identify the teams offering tryouts.
Kovalev has 428 goals and 596 assists in 1,302 regular-season games with the New York Rangers, Pittsburgh Penguins, Montreal Canadiens and Ottawa Senators. He had 16 goals and 18 assists in 74 games with Ottawa and Pittsburgh in 2010-11, his most recent season in the NHL.
http://www.torontosun.com/2012/08/16/kovalev-coming-back-to-nhl
Report: Canucks, Burrows negotiating new deal
According to Vancouver’s CKWX News1130, the Vancouver Canucks have started negotiations on a contract extension for winger Alex Burrows.
Burrows, 31, is heading into the final year of a deal that pays $2 million annually. The four-year, $8 million deal he signed back in 2009-10 represents one of the league’s best bargains — since signing, he’s averaged 29 goals per season and missed just 12 games to injury.
Last season, he averaged a career-high 18:28 of ice time and finished tied for 21st in even strength goals (23) with Jamie Benn and Jonathan Toews.
http://prohockeytalk.nbcsports.com/2012/08/15/report-canucks-burrows-negotiating-new-deal/
Yandle over Bouwmeester
A report out of Calgary last week had the Red Wings offering Valtteri Filppula, Jonathan Ericsson and a prospect to the Flames for Jay Bouwmeester. But it seemed like wishful thinking, at best.
Even disregarding the value of Filppula and Ericsson to the Red Wings, Bouwmeester is in the conversation mostly because of his disappointing play for the Flames.
He does not play physically, especially not up to his ample size, and his offensive skills have waned.
Bouwmeester is, in sum, a drastically overpaid, veteran defenseman capable of soaking up an average of 22 minutes.
As much as the Red Wings need help, it is doubtful they would trade prized scoring and playmaking, a developing young defenseman and more, for Bouwmeester.
And the Flames are unlikely to part with Bouwmeester for much less.
Meanwhile, with two recent injuries and also failing to acquire defensemen this summer, the Flyers are likely to compete with the Red Wings for Bouwmeester, keeping the price high.
A far more attractive acquisition through a big trade is Keith Yandle, the young mainstay for the Coyotes, who is signed through 2016.
wedding dresses