If a new owner keeps the Phoenix Coyotes in Glendale, the team will stay for the long haul, a top National Hockey League executive says.

Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly told The Arizona Republic in an exclusive interview this week that sports mogul Jerry Reinsdorf’s investment group, which has offered $148 million to buy the team, will not negotiate a short-term lease at Jobing.com Arena.

Glendale struck a 30-year deal with the Coyotes when it spent $180 million to build the facility in 2003.

Reinsdorf’s bid, however, hinges in part on renegotiating the terms of that lease.

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For the next three days, the KK Hockey section will be in lite-posting mode while I enjoy some party time with family and friends. 

But now with the Pens’ available cap space approximately at the $3M mark now, Shero most likely will have to get a little creative in order to fill the vacancy left by Rob Scuderi’s departure to the Left Coast.

Continue reading "Defenseman biggest priority remaining for Shero & Penguins"

from Mike Zeisberger of the Toronto Sun,

After efforts by the Maple Leafs to land the Sedin twins and Richmond Hill native Mike Cammalleri fell short earlier this week, there were hopes throughout the city that Brampton’s Rick Nash might somehow be wooed to Toronto when he became eligible to be an unrestricted free agent on July 1, 2010.

Columbus Blue Jackets officials were said to be well aware of the chatter north of the border—talk spearheaded by FAN-590/Sportsnet analyst Doug MacLean, the man who drafted Nash first overall in 2002—suggesting a marriage between Nash and the Leafs would make perfect sense down the road.

So much for those aspirations.

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In order to get a bit of a handle on how good this team might have been, we can look at their 2008/09 NHL numbers

Continue reading "How Good Was The 2008 All UFA Team?"

The Colorado Avalanche have traded Ryan Smyth to the Los Angeles Kings.

The 33-year old posted 26 goals and 33 assists in 77 games last season.

Smyth spent most of the first 12 seasons of his career with the Oilers, but after failing to reach a contract agreement, was dealt to the New York Islanders at the trade deadline in 2007.

In that off-season he signed a five-year, $31.25 million deal with the Avalanche.

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added 11:25pm, via Darren Dreger’s Twitter,

Ryan Smyth to Los Angeles for D Kyle Quincey, D Tom Priessing and a 5th round pick

added 11:53pm,

DENVER – The Colorado Avalanche Hockey Club announced today that it has acquired defensemen Kyle Quincey and Tom Preissing, along with a fifth round pick in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft, from the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for forward Ryan Smyth. The trade is conditional upon the players passing a physical.

“We are pleased to be adding two quality NHL defensemen,” said Avalanche General Manager Greg Sherman.  “Kyle and Tom are both versatile players who can contribute at both ends. They will add defensive depth to our lineup.”

added 7/04/09 12:05am, via Adrian Dater of All Things Avs,

By the way, there has been a report that Alex Tanguay will re-sign with the Avalanche to replace Smyth. That will NOT happen. Tanguay is not coming back to the Avalanche, period.

My sources tell me Tanguay could be signing with the Phoenix Coyotes. But that is not a done deal at this point.

Here’s a look at some teams that still have some work to do, or give the impression of having unfinished business, as the free-agency period quickly gives way to the dog days of summer:

San Jose Sharks
GM Doug Wilson promised change after the Sharks’ annual playoff dive in April, and word on the street is he did try to move forward Ryane Clowe at the draft but couldn’t. Clowe ended up signing a four-year deal with San Jose worth north of $3.5 million a year. Out of the Sharks’ big pieces, it was largely believed Wilson might have tried to move captain Marleau. Yet Marleau, too, remains in the fold....

New Jersey Devils
Devils maestro GM Lou Lamoriello is like the Alfred E. Neuman of the hockey world this summer—what, me worry? Lamoriello’s coach flees town. One of his top forwards, Brian Gionta, bolts to Montreal, and his best defensive forward, John Madden, heads to Chicago. Gone, too, is Scott Clemmensen, the backup goalie who saved the Devils’ season when Martin Brodeur went down with injury.

But Lamoriello insists all is well....

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Sources tell TSN the NHL and the NHLPA are investigating what might have been an enormous mistake by the Chicago Blackhawks.

Chicago tendered qualifying offers to several key players this week, including Kris Versteeg, Cam Barker, Ben Eager, Colin Fraser, Aaron Johnson and Troy Brouwer, however the investigation underway is to determiner whether the qualifying offers were filed correctly.

If not, there is the remote possibility the qualifying offers could be ruled invalid and the players listed above, conceivably, could be deemed unrestricted free agents because of the blunder.

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The Blue Jackets have signed captain Rick Nash to an eight-year, $62.4 million contract extension, The Dispatch has learned. That’s an annual cap hit of $7.8 million.

The deal will keep Nash under contract with the Blue Jackets through the 2017-18 season.

added 8:36pm,

COLUMBUS, OHIO — The Columbus Blue Jackets have signed team captain Rick Nash to an eight-year contract extension that begins in 2010-11 and continues through the 2017-18 National Hockey League season, club General Manager Scott Howson announced tonight. As is club policy, terms were not disclosed.

“Rick is a Blue Jacket. He is our captain, the foundation of our team and one of the elite players in the National Hockey League and we are very happy that he will continue to call Columbus home for many years to come,” said Howson. “This is an important and exciting day for our franchise and our fans.”

“I liked it in Detroit, I have no hard feelings for them,” Samuelsson said. “But they came up too short, and too late. In my mind they made their choices when they signed guys through the year.”

If we had a dollar for every time one of the 19 complained about Mikael Samuelsson playing the point on the Wing powerplay?  We’d be able to pay the 2.5 million he’ll be making per year in Vancouver.  In truth, Sammy provided some clutch play, a little grit and plenty of conversation. 

Another inevitable departure, but a little surprising at how much he’s getting paid.  Sammy’s happy with the cash.

“Obviously that (the money) was the key, I shouldn’t lie,” Samuelsson said. 

No you shouldn’t Sammy.  Discuss.

“It feels very weird,” Scuderi told ESPN.com after signing the deal. “It’s a weird combination of odd and exciting.”

While he had no desire to leave and wouldn’t have left had the economics of the game and the cap restraints of the Penguins specifically been different, he acknowledged, “it’s kind of exciting to start a new challenge.”

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From the Penguins:

The Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins have agreed to terms with forward Ruslan Fedotenko to a one-year contract through the 2009-2010 season, it was announced today by Executive Vice President and General Manager Ray Shero. 

Fedotenko, 30, scored 39 points (16 goals, 23 assists) and ranked second on the team with a plus-18 rating in 65 games with the Penguins this season.  It marked the seventh time that he recorded 30-plus points in a single season.  He appeared in 24 games for Pittsburgh during the post-season, recording seven goals and 14 points. 

Continue reading "Fedotenko re-signs with Penguins for one-year deal"

With the past week as laboratory, it’s an apt time to broaden our lens a bit and remark on how fantastically hockey coverage is expanding and improving by virtue of a single social media application: Twitter.

The two big-on-the-calendar events of the past seven days, indeed of the entire hockey season—the NHL Draft and Wednesday’s start of free agency—were by virtue of this single communications tool blown wide open in insider access: every hockey fan with a hand-held suddenly had access to the real-time thoughts and experiences of the most gifted 18-year-old hockey talents on the planet, player agents, NHL free agent stars, leading media personalities, and of course bloggers.

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Just spoke with Marty Biron, who is on his way to Buffalo with his faily.

Biron said he is “a little surprised” he has not signed a contract with an NHL team in the first three days of the NHL signing period, but also said he has had discussions with teams and hopes to sign with one of them soon.

“I’m waiting for some options to open up,” he said.