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It comes as no surprise to hockey fans the world over, but Steve Stamkos has a date with the NHL, and today he got it confirmed by way of a three-year entry level contract worth $2.625 million, and up to $11.1 million in incentives.
“I think sticking in the NHL is obviously the biggest goal of mine right now. It’s one thing to go to training camp and get a sniff at the NHL, but it’s one thing to stay for the full season,” Stamkos said during a conference call from Victoria, British Columbia, where the Lightning are holding a prospect camp. - Yahoo! Sports
Stamkos is rumored to be starting as the Lightning’s 2nd line center, where he could be the setup guy for a number of wingers, including Jussi Jokinen, Ryan Malone, Mark Recchi or Gary Roberts.
Todd Bertuzzi will be shopping for a place to live after the Calgary Flames signed him to a 1 year $1.95 million contract today. Bertuzzi, who had 14G 26A for 40Pts last season for the Anaheim Ducks brings a solid power-forward role to the Flames.
Other moves around the NHL:
The Columbus Blue Jackets have signed center R.J. Umberger to a 4-year deal. Umberger was acquired by the Jackets on June 20 along with a draft pick from the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for 2 picks. In 3 years with the NHL, Umberger has scored 49G and 67A. Financial terms were not released.
The Toronto Maple Leafs have signed RFA Matt Stajan to a 2-year $3.5 million contract on monday. Stajan has scored 56G and 71A in 314 games for the Leafs.
The Carolina Hurricanes have reached a deal with defenseman Dennis Seidenberg for a 1-year $1.2 million contract. Seidenberg played 47 games for the Hurricanes last season and collected 15 assists.
The Philadelphia Flyers have given GM Paul Holmgren a 3-year extension that ensures he stays with the team through 2011-2012.
After nearly 20 years in the NHL, Jaromir Jagr has decided to leave the NHL to play for team Avangard Omsk in Russia. The move comes just a day after splitting from the New York Rangers.
In his career in the NHL Jagr has put up phenominal numbers, collecting 646 Goals, 953 Assists for 1599 Points in 1273 Games, better than a point a game over his NHL career, which has seen him play for 3 teams; Pittsburgh Penguins, Washington Capitals and the New York Rangers.
“It was the toughest decision in my life, hockeywise. … No question about it. I hate making changes,” Jagr told The Canadian Press. - Yahoo! Sports
Other action around the league saw a number of players change homes.
A day after the San Jose Sharks acquired Rob Blake on the blue line, they have acquired another top defenseman in a 4-player trade. The Sharks acquired Dan Boyle and Brad Lukowich from the Tampa Bay Lightning in exchange for defenseman Matt Carle, prospect Ty Wishart, a 2009 first-round pick and a 2010 fourth-round pick. The Sharks also acquired 2nd round Draft picks in 2009 and 2010 from the Buffalo Sabres in exchange for Craig Rivet and a 2010 7th round pick.
The Vancouver Canucks acquired a replacement forward for Markus Naslund today by acquiring Steve Bernier from the Buffalo Sabres in exchange for a 3rd round pick in the 2009 draft and a 2nd round pick in 2010.
The Pittsburgh Penguins showed their faith in their goalie today by locking up M.A. Fleury to a 7 year, $35 Million dollar deal.
As the off season heads towards the NHL Entry Draft we start to hear a lot about the top draft picks, the best placed teams in the draft and that all common question “will Stamkos go #1?”.
If you’re not aware, Steven Stamkos, center from the OHL’s Sarnia Sting is the rumoured #1 pick.
Today on Yahoo! Sports, Puck Daddy blog, Greg Wyshynski posts a lighthearted look at the draft and lists the top 5 reasons you don’t want to draft Steven Stamkos.
The Dallas Stars tried again to eliminate the San Jose Sharks today, but failed to achieve the task as the Sharks rallied to win in overtime, 3-2.
Jere Lehtinen opened the scoring for the Stars. Brenden Morrow put the Stars up 2-0 going into the third period. The 2nd period saw not one, but two waved off goals by Brenden Morrow. In the third Milan Michalek and Brian Campbell evened the score, taking the game to overtime, where Joe Pavelski netted the game winner in the 2nd minute of OT.
“Every game we lose, we give them more life, but I like our position better than theirs,” Morrow said. “The third period was our downfall. We have to move on, earn our breaks. We earned this 3-2 lead.”
- Yahoo! Sport
For the Stars, Hope, Joy, Bliss, Excitement. For the Sharks, Dismay, Fear, Concern.
4 minutes into the overtime period, unlikely hero, Mattias Norstrom shoots a wristshot from the blue line. This isn’t the first wrister he’s fired in this series, and it probably wont be his last. But todays was different, because it managed to go through all the traffic, past Nabokov and into the net.
And with that, the Stars took a very convincing 3-0 series lead over the (#1 contender going into the regular season) San Jose Sharks.
“I tried to get it on net, it went off a stick. Fortunately, it went in,” said Norstrom, sounding as shocked as anyone about his game-winner.
- Yahoo! Sports
In 2 weeks the NHL will face the much talked about Trade Deadline. Like every year, there have been big names mentioned, some of which may surprise you.
Yahoo Sports columnist Chuck Gormley wrote an article recently on the trade deadline, and section in particular really makes you sit back and wonder “what can we expect”…
Last February 27, overzealous general managers orchestrated 25 deals involving 44 players and 28 draft picks in the hours leading up to the trading deadline.
In the 26 days of February before that frenzied finale, another 24 trades involving 47 - Chuck Gormley, NHL@ Yahoo
It is perfectly safe to assume that we can expect a similar frenzy over the next 2 weeks. We’ve already seen one multi-player trade, with Ottawa sending Joe Corvo & Patrick Eaves to Carolina in exchange for Mike Commodore and Cory Stillman.
The big names this year however feature players whom people would least expect to be traded, such as Toronto’s Mats Sundin. He may be the heart and soul, and the leader of that team but it looks like he may be shopping for a new home come late February.
Rob Blake of the L.A. Kings, Brian Campbell off the Buffalo Sabres and Olli Jokinen of the Florida Panthers are 3 others whom many are shocked to see on the block.
Atlanta may be forced to trade Marian Hossa, knowing that he does not intend to stay come the end of the season. As they do have a shot to make the playoffs, trading Hossa could be a shot in the foot. If they keep him however, they risk not getting anything in return when he packs his bags as a Free Agent.
Mike Comrie is rumoured to be on the block in New York and Martin St Louis, who has been in many a trade discussion over the recent weeks is said to be a possible mover in Tampa Bay.
The Anaheim Ducks, who have struggled defensively even with Schneider, Neidermayer and Pronger on the blueline are said to be interested in Rob Blake.
Talk of the early season, the Dallas Stars may end up doing very little in the coming weeks, with the team having found it’s scoring touch and with Marty Turco tearing it up between the pipes.
One thing is for sure, we’re in for a fun ride over the coming weeks.
The quietly surging Washington Capitals made a break into the top spot today by defeating the Philadelphia Flyers on the road. The win pushes the Capitals past the Carolina Hurricanes and into the top of the mediocre Southeast Division.
A big part of the win was league leading goal scorer Alexander Ovechkin, who scored his 46th of the season 7:45 into the 3rd period. Philadelphia came back to score 2 in latter part of the third, but were not strong enough to stop the Capitals from taking the 2 points.
Capitals head coach Bruce Boudreau has strong confidence in his team.
“We believe we’re a real good team now,” Boudreau said. “Individually, I think they believe they’re a hard team to beat and that when they go on the ice they can win any game they play.” - NHL @ Yahoo Sports
With 4 teams separated by just 2 points in the Southeast Division, the Capitals will need to continue their strong play if they want to make a drive for the Playoffs.
Peter Forsberg has announced he is ready to make a return to the NHL, turning down an offer to finish this season in Sweden, a move that would have disallowed him from returning to the NHL until next year.
Forsberg has apparently told his manager to start accepting offers from NHL teams.
“Actually, the 34-year-old Swedish star with two Stanley Cup rings won with Colorado in addition to stops in Philadelphia and Nashville over an 11-year NHL career, is more for lease on a multi-year basis. While he appears intent now on hockey in North America, it’s not just for the remainder of this season, but through at least next year, too.”
Then went on to say
“Forsberg told his agent, Don Baizley, to start entertaining offers from NHL teams for a “modest” two-year deal.”
It comes as no surprise to hockey fans the world over, but Steve Stamkos has a date with the NHL, and today he got it confirmed by way of a three-year entry level contract worth $2.625 million, and up to $11.1 million in incentives.
Todd Bertuzzi will be shopping for a place to live after the Calgary Flames signed him to a 1 year $1.95 million contract today. Bertuzzi, who had 14G 26A for 40Pts last season for the Anaheim Ducks brings a solid power-forward role to the Flames.
After nearly 20 years in the NHL, Jaromir Jagr has decided to leave the NHL to play for team Avangard Omsk in Russia. The move comes just a day after splitting from the New York Rangers.
A picture tells a thousand words.
The quietly surging Washington Capitals made a break into the top spot today by defeating the Philadelphia Flyers on the road. The win pushes the Capitals past the Carolina Hurricanes and into the top of the mediocre Southeast Division.
