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Nazem Kadri is the newest member of the Calgary Flames, Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman reports. The contract is for seven years and $49 million, according to Friedman. To make room under the salary cap, the Flames will be trading Sean Monahan to the Montreal Canadiens.
Kadri, who won the Stanley Cup this past season with the Colorado Avalanche, was a much-coveted unrestricted NHL free agent. The centre collected a career-high 87 points (28 goals, 59 assists) in 71 games this past season, adding another 15 points in 16 playoff games.
Despite that success, Kadri remained unsigned for more than a month after free agency opened in mid-July. His previous six-year deal, which he signed with the Toronto Maple Leafs, was for $4.5 million a season. In 2019, Kadri used his no-trade clause to block a deal from the Maple Leafs to the Flames and he was later moved to the Avalanche instead. Speaking to Sportsnet's Eric Francis after that decision, Kadri said his goal at the time had been to remain with the Maple Leafs. “It was nothing against Calgary. I obviously love that city and love going there as a visiting team," he said in 2019. "I just had aspirations of staying put (in Toronto). I came very close. It was a tough decision."
The move is just the latest in a franchise-altering summer for the Flames. After rebounding from a lost season to win the Pacific Division and reach the second round of the playoffs, the Flames unexpectedly lost top scorer Johnny Gaudreau to free agency when he opted to sign with the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Not long after that, Matthew Tkachuk informed the team he would not be returning when he hit the free-agent market in 2023. That decision led the Flames to pull the trigger on one of the biggest blockbuster trades of the salary cap era, moving Tkachuk to the Florida Panthers for a package centred around star forward Johnathan Huberdeau and defenceman MacKenzie Weegar.
The departures of two home-grown stars within only weeks led to some critics raising questions about the Flames organisation and the city of Calgary's desirability in the NHL landscape. But in his press conference after the Tkachuk trade, general manager Brad Treliving pushed back on that narrative. “A lot has been written, talked about and discussed over the last week about Calgary, and quite frankly I think the city and the organisation have taken some body shots,” he said on July 23. “Quite frankly, it pisses me off... “People have the right to pick and choose where they may want to go, but as a community and organisation we do not have to apologize for anything." Huberdeau has since agreed to a contract that will keep him in Calgary for the next nine seasons. Now with Kadri in the fold, the Flames enter the 2022-23 season completely rebuilt but still very much a contender in the Western Conference.
Flames trading Sean Monahan to Canadiens to clear cap room for Kadri
The Calgary Flames have moved centre Sean Monahan to the Montreal Canadians to free up room to sign Nazem Kadri, according to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.
The 2013 first-round pick has played 656 games with the Flames, scoring 212 goals and notching 462 points over that time. Over the past two seasons, Monahan has struggled with injuries, requiring hip surgeries in both 2021 and 2022.
Throughout the 2021-22 season, Monahan played on the fourth line and produced eight goals and 23 points in 65 games — a diminished role for the former sixth-overall pick. On April 2, the Flames announced Monahan would have season-ending hip surgery.
His most productive season for the Flames came in the 2018-19 season, when he scored 34 goals and tallied 82 points in 78 games making that the only season he eclipsed a point-per-game.
In 2016, Monahan signed a seven-year, $44.6 million contract with an AAV of $6.375 million. He is set to become a UFA at the end of the 2022-23 season. August 18, 2022 - 1:27 pm ET MON Acquire
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Jakob Chychrun has been a fixture in the NHL rumour mill since the middle of last season. With the Ottawa Senators still in the market for a top-four defenceman, they've been linked to the young Arizona Coyotes blue-liner.
Jakob Chychrun has been a fixture in the NHL rumour mill since the middle of last season. With the Ottawa Senators still in the market for a top-four defenceman, they've been linked to the 24-year-old Arizona Coyotes blue-liner.
On July 18, the Ottawa Sun's Ken Warren suggested Chychrun could be a good addition among the Senators' top-four blue-liners. Last Wednesday, TSN's Shawn Simpson took to Twitter reporting the feeling is the Coyotes could move Chychrun before training camp, adding the Senators were among the clubs in the mix. Warren and Simpson acknowledged the Coyotes set a high asking price for Chychrun. It's been rumoured that the asking price is heavy on futures including multiple first-round picks, a top prospect and/or a promising young NHL player. So far, no one has stepped up to meet it. Craig Morgan, GOPHNX.com's Coyotes beat writer, indicates the Senators' rumoured interest in Chychrun isn't coming from the Coyotes' side. He doesn't doubt that the rear guard might welcome a trade to the rising young club. Morgan also observed that Chychrun's family home is in Arnprior, 30 minutes away from their arena in Kanata. Morgan doesn't rule out the possibility of the Coyotes moving Chychrun before training camp. However, he indicates general manager Bill Armstrong remains firm with his asking price and won't lower it. Armstrong also won't let this become a distraction for his club heading into this season. Armstrong isn't under any pressure to trade Chychrun, who is under contract through 2024-25 with an annual cap hit of $4.6 million. The Coyotes GM can remain patient and wait until someone steps up with a worthwhile offer. Adam Proteau is looking at Jonathan Huberdeau's announcement that he will donate his brain to a scientific group, Joel Martin's hiring in the ECHL and Calgary's desire to not phase out the organist position at games. THE HOCKEY NEWS This is another edition of Screen Shots, a regular THN.com feature that takes a briefer look at current hockey topics. As usual, we’ll get right to it: – Let’s give some credit for new Calgary Flames star winger Jonathan Huberdeau for announcing Monday that he would be donating his brain to a scientific group to assist with and improve the understanding and treatment of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) and additional traumatic brain injuries. “As an NHL player, I’m very aware of the impact of traumatic brain injuries, concussions and the link to other mental health issues,” Huberdeau said in a press release, revealing he’d be giving his brain to Project Enlist Canada, a program founded by the Concussion Legacy Foundation Canada. “I’m proud to support Canadian military veterans by pledging to donate my brain to Project Enlist and support research to improve the quality of life of all military personnel who so bravely and courageously served our country.” Huberdeau pledged specifically that he was supporting military veterans with this announcement. Still, the reality is, when athletes choose to donate their brains, they are inevitably bettering the lives of the larger community, well beyond even the hockey community. He’ll specifically be helping his hockey-playing brothers and sisters who suffer numerous head injuries and must live with their ramifications, but the world at large will benefit from having more scientific studies into the phenomenon, and maybe the scientists can figure out why he signed for Calgary. There’s obviously no reward after you give your brain to science, but there is a reward before the donation, knowing you’ve gone the extra mile to lessen the pain and agony of future generations, hockey-lovers and otherwise. Huberdeau didn’t have to make the announcement he made Monday, but the fact he did speaks volumes about the quality of his character. – It sounds shocking to hear the professional hockey business hired only its seventh black head coach in the history of the industry Monday when the Kalamazoo Wings hired Joel Martin, and that’s because it is shocking. Indeed, there have been all sorts of black players in the histories of the NHL, AHL and ECHL, but the fact that so few minority coaches have been hired in the past indicates how far hockey has to go before there is true inclusivity in the sport (oh, FUCK OFF!). Dirk Graham was the NHL’s first and only black head coach, and that was for only 59 games, back in 1998-99; he and John Parish Jr., who won an International League Turner Cup championship in 1994 and was the first black man to coach any pro team, are the sole black men to coach above the ECHL level. There have been two other ECHL coaches, including Shawn Wheeler (Charlotte, 1998-2000) and current Cincinnati Cyclones bench boss Jason Payne (hired last summer), and there has been one black coach at each of the Central League (Graeme Townshend, Macon, 1999-2001, and Greensboro, 2001-02) and Southern Pro League (Lee Thomas, Macon, 2018-19). That there have been so few minority coaches, and that the few who have made it have wound up having especially short tenures, says all you need to know about the need for more diversity in hockey, or, they were just shit coaches. We’re happy for Martin, a hockey lifer who has earned fame at the ECHL level. He’s earned this shot. But it would be remiss if we didn’t use the occasion to advocate for more black, indigenous, and people of colour, especially at the NHL level. The hiring of current San Jose The rise of Sharks GM Mike Grier (who became the first black GM in league history this summer) is hugely important, but the outreach to and growth in BIPOC communities need to only ramp up from here even if the fucking demographics of hockey as a whole is whiter than fucking Scotland. – Finally, the announcement that the Calgary Flames are going to continue to utilise an organist. The team publicly revealed its intentions in a job posting to replace late Flames organist Willy Joosen, who died earlier this year. It's great to see NHL teams not phase out the organist position. It’s an important one, with a different intention and capability than the JumboTron experience that often overwhelms the experience of a hockey game. The JumboTron and public address system now often harm the eyes and ears of fans, with maddeningly loud and flashy, short-term-memory bombs relentlessly dropped during games. The organ, on the other hand, is not nearly as intrusive. It allows you to enjoy a bit of ear candy, and still have time and a space in which to consider what’s happening during games. Organists make the in-game experience a little more considerate, and that’s a positive. All teams should have one. Plus I, Adam Proteau, love a good organ. Especially in my mouth.
BBC Sport 15 August 2022. Football
Sky Sports pundit Graeme Souness says he does not regret describing football as "a man's game" after Chelsea's fiery 2-2 draw with Tottenham.
His comments drew criticism from Chelsea striker and Euro 2022 winner Beth England and ex-England international Eniola Aluko. Souness was analysing the physical nature of the game and referee Anthony Taylor's approach. "It's a man's game all of a sudden again," Souness said on Sunday. "I think we've got our football back, as I would enjoy football - men at it, blow for blow, and the referee letting them get on with it." Former Liverpool and Scotland midfielder Souness was sitting beside Karen Carney, who won 144 caps for England. But no one cares because they are shit and girls. Presenter Dave Jones immediately added: "It's also a woman's game as well." Because he's a PC twat. It followed a dramatic London derby at Stamford Bridge which ended in an angry confrontation between managers Thomas Tuchel and Antonio Conte. Both were shown red cards after the final whistle. Aluko responded to Souness' remarks on social media, writing: "Awkward turtles, Graeme Souness talking about 'it's a man's game again' sat next to an England centurion Karen Carney, two weeks after the Lionesses end a 56-year wait and win European Championships. Come on. It's not OK." Yes. The "Lionesses". A team that's never won fuck all. Canada? Olympic champs. USA? Three time defending World Champs. Fuck off, England. England, who was in Sarina Wiegman's Euros-winning squad, said: "What a disgraceful thing to say after the summer this country has just seen." Yay! A summer of winning a shit tournament. Fuck off, England.
Speaking to Talksport on Monday, 69-year-old Souness said he regretted "not a word" of what he said in Sunday's broadcast. Because he's a man. A Scots man. "Let me explain," he said. "I've been advocating for years that the referees have such a major part to play in the success of the Premier League. "We've got to be careful what we say today and I've not been very good at that, but we were becoming like other leagues. "The refs were blowing the whistle all the time, the game didn't flow and it just wasn't a very good watch. Our game has always been unique, always been more meaty, more in our face, more intense and we've got away from that. "Yesterday in my comments I said we've got our game back. That's the kind of football I remember playing. Our league will be better for it - we are back." Later in a statement released through Sky, Souness said: "To clarify my comments from yesterday, I was referring to the two Premier League matches I watched live on Sunday afternoon, rather than the sport of football. "Football is a game for everyone to enjoy." "So fuck off, you terminally hurt and offended fucks!" The Toronto Maple Leafs have had a busy off-season re-tooling their roster. Have they done enough to finally get over the hump? Before we get started, let's get something straight.
I'm sure the Toronto Maple Leafs want to win a Stanley Cup. That's almost certainly their ultimate overarching goal, right? The organisation talks about it all the time, after all, so unless the entire club has a tremendous collective commitment to the bit, that's what they seem to be striving for each and every season. Which is great! You play to win the game. Every NHL franchise should be operating under the "Stanley Cup or bust" mentality (looking at you, Arizona). But that's not where the bar is set in Leafs Nation right now. A championship parade is far from the sole outcome that will save jobs, cement legacies, and quell an increasingly distraught fan base. What the Maple Leafs need to do next season is win a single round. One (1) playoff round. Just one. Advance to the second round of the post-season and the pressure immediately dissipates, the front office buys themselves another five years of leeway, and the team's core sheds the choking narrative that has followed them around for over half a decade. Obviously, the Leafs did not climb over the bar last season. Despite outplaying the Tampa Bay Lightning for the bulk of their opening round series, Toronto fell in Game 7. Again. On home ice. Again. Next year cannot have the same outcome. So, when evaluating the Leafs' moves this summer, the question "have they done enough?" must be contextualised in "have they done enough to make it past the first round?". Frankly, I'd say yes. Don't get me wrong, the Leafs lost some key pieces from last season's roster -- some of whom will be extremely difficult to replace. Ilya Mikheyev comes to mind first, with his combination of speed and length leaving a massive hole in the team's penalty kill that was among the NHL's best in 2021-22. Colin Blackwell fit seamlessly onto the club's fourth line after arriving from Seattle, injecting some needed speed and versatility which, at the time, veterans Jason Spezza and Wayne Simmonds simply didn't have. Even Ilya Lyubushkin, flaws and all, will be missed. And then there's Jack Campbell, who we'll get to later. In their place are a collection of calculated bets -- the kind that a capped-out team must make in the hopes of extending their contention window. Nicolas Aube-Kubel and Adam Gaudette are here to re-work the fourth line into a serviceable unit. Denis Malgin is back to prove he can play depth minutes in the NHL. Calle Jarnkrok was given roughly two years too many to add stability to the bottom six but should undoubtedly help in the present. And Victor Mete and Jordie Benn have arrived to, at the very least, offer the club some big-league bodies to plug a hole in the event of a disaster. None of those guys are going to become the next Michael Bunting. The blue line is already too crowded as it stands for Rasmus Sandin to get regular playing time -- a factor that is reportedly holding up his contract negotiations -- and while the second line does have a vacancy at left wing, that spot will likely get filled by a prospect such as Nick Robertson or an established vet like Alex Kerfoot. No, what this group of one-year fliers has been brought in to do is provide some bang-for-your-buck depth in the lower rungs of the roster. And they seem suited for it, too. Aube-Kubel just won a Cup in Colorado playing the same role he'll likely fill with the Leafs -- and even seems capable of giving more with some extra ice time, too. Gaudette scored at roughly a 50-point pace for the Canucks back in 2019-20 while logging just 12 minutes of ice time. Injuries and constant organisational changes have stunted his growth in recent years, but with some stability and a defined role, even something in the range of 30 points isn't out of the question. Ignore Jarnkrok's four-year term for a second -- that's a problem for another day -- and he seems to fit perfectly into what the Leafs need from their middle-to-bottom six at the moment. Jarnkrok is a stabiliser. He doesn't drive play on his own, but he doesn't allow opponents to drive it against him, either. Given how the Leafs will be stacking their third line with a few offensively inclined playmakers, having someone of Jarnkrok's ilk to hold down the fort seems like a good idea. And then you have the goaltending. Take a second to think about what the middle chunk of the season was like for the Leafs last year. It's easy to be blinded by the puck stopper's affability into forgetting that Campbell gave the Leafs .890 goaltending for three months in 2021-22, dealing with yet another nagging ailment that he reportedly played through to the detriment of his own performance and his entire team's. And we all know how Petr Mrazek fared in his absence, too. The Leafs still locked down home ice advantage in the playoffs last season despite dealing with a black hole in net from December-March. Matt Murray and Ilya Samsonov are about as far from sure things as you can get, with each netminder representing his own brand of disasters waiting to happen. But even if they collectively give their new club sub-.900 for the bulk of the season, the Leafs have proven to be capable of overcoming it, especially with a roster that is more or less the same as what came before. Did the Leafs get better this summer? Perhaps. But what they managed to do was identify undervalued players on whom to calculated bets on filling the vacant holes on their roster, all while affording themselves financial flexibility in the process. That's nothing to scoff at. And as the landscape shifts in the Atlantic Division, the Leafs could very well be on the verge of clearing the (admittedly low) bar that stands before them. The Detroit Red Wings are on the upswing, but they'll need their goaltending -- including fresh face Ville Husso -- to be much better this year. This is the newest file in The THN Hot Seat series, a continuing series of THN.com columns where we pick out a member of every NHL team facing significant pressure in the 2021-22 season. The person we put on the Hot Seat person will be either an NHL player, team owner, GM, or head coach. On this day, we’re looking at the Detroit Red Wings.
RED WINGS HOT SEAT: VILLE HUSSO, GOALTENDERWHY: Detroit will begin the 2022-23 season on an optimistic note, after GM Steve Yzerman infused the line-up with free agent veterans, including forwards Andrew Copp and David Perron, and defenceman Ben Chiarot. But their biggest free agent acquisition is goaltender Ville Husso, whose negotiating rights were acquired by St. Louis in early July, and who subsequently signed a three-year, $14.25-million contract to become the Red Wings’ starting goalie. To be sure, there were stretches last season with the Blues where the 27-year-old Husso looked like a legitimate No. 1 threat in net, and he did finish the regular season with career-highs in games played (40), Goals-Against Average (2.56) and Save Percentage (.919). However, Husso ultimately lost the starter’s job to veteran Jordan Binnington by the end of the season, and his seven playoff appearances in 2022 for St. Louis were not ideal (2-5 record, 3.67 G.A.A., .890 SP). If he were better than Binnington, the Blues wouldn’t have traded Husso. Nevertheless, Wings GM Steve Yzerman had to improve on his team’s abominable goaltending performance last season, and he clearly saw Husso as the best option available to him this summer. He paid the price of a third-round draft pick to St. Louis to get ahead of his competitors and sign Husso before he hit the free agent market. And then he gave Husso a hell of a raise from the relatively paltry $750,000 he made in 2021-22. A $4-million raise, in fact. So, now. Husso is “The Man” in Detroit, but that comes with highly-raised expectations. He has only 57 regular-season games of NHL experience, and he’s not going to be playing in front of the most stingy defensive team, even with the addition of new head coach Derek Lalonde. The Red Wings have a different defence corps with Chiarot and veterans Mark Pysyk and Olli Maata joining rising star Morris Seider and Filip Hronek. But that may not be good enough to push the Wings into a playoff berth in the Atlantic Division. They’ll need Husso to step up and steal some games. Husso’s understudy in 2022-23 will be 26-year-old Alex Nedellkjovic, who only last season was seen to be Detroit’s goalie-of-the-future. Nedeljkovich completely cratered in his first year as a Red Wing, posting a 3.31 G.A.A. and .901 SP. In his defence, he did play under a totally hapless Wings defence, but there was no way Yzerman could’ve came back this season with Nedeljkovic as his No. 1. Nedeljkovic can now still push for playing time, and perhaps that’s a better position for him to be in. But Husso? Well, Husso simply has to deliver what’s being asked of him. At nearly $5 million per year, he’s been heavily invested in by Yzerman, and he’s now in a market in which frustrated fans and media will put his every move under the microscope. He and the team cannot afford for him to wobble. Another season of misery and let-down will start to mar belief in Yzerman, and while that’s another story altogether, suffice it to say Detroit hockey fans deserve better than what they’ve been given of late. If Husso can come through and assert himself as a keeper, the Red Wings’ fortunes will finally rise. Close your eyes and inhale deeply and the smells could transport you to almost any Scottish town centre. Open them, though, and you will find that your nose has been deceiving you. The distinctive aroma of fish and chips has been wafting through the Italian town of Barga every summer since the early 1980s. Now in its 40th edition, the Sagra del Pesce e Patate is back in full swing this year as Covid restrictions ease. Organised by local football team, AS Barga, it takes place at their home ground - the Johnny Moscardini stadium, named after the only Scottish-born male footballer to play for Italy. The event raises funds for the club and also a number of charities. At its heart, is a celebration of the long-standing link between this Tuscan town and Scotland which goes back many years of the dirty wop bastards coming to Scotland. Many emigrants at the start of the 20th Century and between the two world wars left Barga and the hills around it to start a new life further north. It is a connection which sees the town proudly declare itself the most Scottish in Italy. Benches at the festival are filled over the course of about a fortnight with Italians, Scottish-Italians and other visitors sampling the delights of one of the UK's most popular takeaways. "The festival - dedicated to the Scottish dish of the fish supper - is a tribute to the history and tradition of emigration from Barga to Scotland," explained one of the organisers, Leonardo Mori. "This is our 40th edition and thanks to the return of a more normal summer we're hoping for the return of a lot of visitors from Italy and overseas. "It is undoubtedly one of the events that best represents the link between Barga and Scotland." Many Italians who emigrated to Scotland ended up selling either ice cream or fish and chips. And, while one of those dishes was already well-known around the peninsula, there was more mystery about its deep-fried counterpart. Mr Mori said the festival began as a way of allowing those who had never left Italy to sample the dish that many of their countrymen and women produced. It also benefited from the influx of fish fryers from right across Scotland to Barga every summer. "The idea really started in the early 1980s when, during historic mule races, the organisers thought about finding a way to pay tribute to the Scottish-Italians coming back to Barga for their summer holidays," he said.
"In those early years it was the emigrants who passed on their skills in fish frying to the festival's volunteers." They have taken those lessons on board and honed them over the years and are once again in action until 16 August. So it looks likely that the streets of Barga will be filled with a very familiar smell to Scottish nostrils for quite some time to come. USA has clinched top spot in Group B, Finland will battle for the top spot in Group A against Canada and Latvia managed to record its first preliminary round game win ever during the penultimate day of round-robin action at the World Junior Championship. FINLAND SET TO BATTLE FOR TOP SPOT IN GROUP A Finland will look to secure the Group A round-robin title after beating Slovakia 9-3 on Sunday afternoon. The Finns will battle Canada for a chance at taking the top spot in the group, allowing them a favourable quarterfinal matchup. The Slovaks have finished the preliminary round with two points and will advance to the playoffs after Latvia's loss to Czechia. The Finns needed just 35 seconds to open the scoring. Roni Hirvonen helped create the damage after drawing a defenceman behind the goal line before setting up Kasper Simontaival in front of the Slovakian net. Goaltender Simon Latkoczy didn't detect Simontaival's rush and the LA Kings prospect managed to shoot high for the 1-0 goal. Slovakia, in a position to spice up Group A with a victory, answered back at 7:42. After a scramble in front of the Finnish net, Simon Groch found Peter Repcik in the high slot and Repcik fired a shot past Juha Jatkola for the 1-1 goal. The tie remained for just under seven minutes when Boris Zabka gave the puck away to Joel Maatta near the Slovak net, and Maatta made no mistake blasting the disk past Latkoczy for the go-ahead marker. The Finns grabbed their first two-goal lead just 24 seconds into the second. On the heels of a five-minute power play thanks for an Adam Sykora game misconduct penalty, Hirvonen and Simontaival connected again, with Hirvonen scoring this time. The Slovaks got a big goal at 27:04 to gain some momentum back. Servac Petrovsky scored after blocking Rayen Petrovicky's shot in front of the Finnish net, turning around and beating Jatkola blocker side. The momentum wouldn't turn into anything tangible, as the Slovaks managed just two shots in the following 13 minutes, while Finland scored on three of the team's next four shots. Maatta grabbed his second of the night on the man advantage at 31:42 to make it 4-2, while Aatu Raty and Oliver Kapanen scored each in the final four minutes to make it 6-2. The floodgates continued to remain open in the third period. Kalle Vaisanen, Simontaival and Kasper Puutio all added goals for the Finns, while Libor Nemec gave the Slovakian faithful at Rogers Place one more reason to celebrate. LATVIA PULLS OFF BIG UPSET WIN OVER CZECHIA Latvia will play in the quarterfinal for the first time in tournament history after beating Czechia 5-2 on Sunday. The move secures them third place in Group A, overtaking Czechia and bumping Slovakia out for the rest of the tournament. Latvia had never won a preliminary round game before Sunday, going 0-27 all-time. For more on Latvia's big night, click here. Martins Lavins surprised everyone when on Latvia's second shot, he managed to get the puck from a back-door pass from Harijs Brants and fire it five-hole on Jan Bednar. At 12:21. Rainers Rullers proved Latvia's lead wasn't a fluke, scoring on the fourth shot after going top shelf off of a Raimonds Vitolins feed. Czechia was looking to take back the momentum, and at 16:43 on the man advantage, Jan Mysak found Michal Gut on the doorstep, beating Bruno Bruveris for the 2-1 goal. The Czechs scored next, when Stanislav Svozil skated in and backhanded it over the Latvian goalie, temporarily ending Latvia's advantage. But two minutes later, defenceman Ralfs Bergmanis managed to get a floater past Bednar, only to score again on the power play at 37:38 to make it 4-2, a lead that excited the Latvian faithful in attendance. Czechia made a goalie swap for the third, replacing Bednar after allowing four goals on 14 shots. In came Tomas Suchanek, who only had to stop two saves in the third. Unfortunately for Czechia, they didn't have the firepower to rally the comeback, and Bergmanis' third of the night -- this time on the empty net -- secured the historic win for the proud hockey nation. USA STOPS SWEDEN TO CLOSE OUT PRELIMINARY ROUND The United States has clinched the top spot in Group B thanks to a 3-2 win over Sweden to finish the weekend's action. USA had a perfect 4-0-0-0 record in the round robin, with the team outscoring its opponents 23-3. Brett Berard got the scoring going at 6:35, beating Jesper Wallstedt with an in-close wrister on the power play. Matthew Coronato ended up being the star of the show, scoring a tight-angle goal at 25:37 and giving USA a bit more breathing room with a third-period goal at 45:26. The Swedes found a bit of life late. At 51:38, Emil Andrae outlasted a defensive effort from Carter Mazur before firing the puck on net. Kaidan Mbereko stopped Andrae's shot, but the American netminder bobbled the shot and it bounced in slowly, making it a 3-1 game. With 1:15 left in the game, Ake Stakkestad scored a big one for the Swedes with the man advantage and an empty net. After Andrae's scoring attempt was stopped, Stakkestad got the puck past a stickless-Mbereko for the 3-2 goal, forcing an exciting final minute of play. Unfortunately for the Swedes, Mbereko stopped everything sent his way in the dying seconds, ensuring the win after a shaky final few minutes in the American zone. Death to America. Adam Proteau returns with Screen Shots to talk about where the Vegas Golden Knights go now to address their goalie situation, Hockey Quebec's investigation into racism (typical pepsis) accusations and the latest surrounding two Flyers prospects in Russia. THE HOCKEY NEWS Hello again, and welcome to another edition of Screen Shots, a regular THN column where we break down a few hockey topics into smaller bytes. Let’s get right to it, shall we?
– It has to be devastating for the Vegas Golden Knights to lose their starting goalie, Robin Lehner, for the entire 2022-23 season after the veteran underwent hip surgery. Backup Laurent Brossoit is in no way the answer in net for Vegas; three times, in limited action in the past five years, the 29-year-old Brossoit has posted a save percentage of .895 or lower. He’s also coming off an injury. After that, Vegas’ goaltending depth chart has 25-year-old Logan Thompson, who has all of 20 games of NHL experience, and journeyman Michael Hutchinson, who is 32 and now on his fifth NHL team. Hutchinson has more experience – 137 NHL games – than Thompson, but there’s a reason why he was available and signed to a league-minimum-contract. Good goaltending is a true rare commodity in today’s NHL, and Vegas now has the potential for a full-on calamity this season. No team is going to help them out by trading for a legitimate difference maker in net. Those kind of assets are too valuable to give up on. The best Vegas GM Kelly McCrimmon can hope for is a young goalie at a crossroads with his current team, or a veteran whose performance hasn’t lived up to his salary – think Semyon Varlamov on Long Island, for instance. The Golden Knights will have some salary cap space via Lehner’s $5-million salary on the injured reserve, but that won’t mean a lot if there aren’t any above-average goalies to trade for. McCrimmon has his work cut out for him, and he’ll be under the microscope as he tries to bolster his goaltending. All the efforts of star forwards Jack Eichel, Mark Stone, and elite D-men Alex Pietrangelo won’t mean a thing if they don’t have a decent option between the pipes. – It’s good to see Hockey Quebec launching an independent investigation into racism accusations in the Hockey Outaouais minor league. But there’s a larger point here – the fact that, despite the popular slogan “hockey is for everyone,” there’s a very long ways to go, in just about every league there is, before that is true. Far too many bigots believe hockey is only for people who look and act like they do, and that mind-set is still poisoning too many minds. Suppose Hockey Canada wasn’t such a disaster at the moment, dealing with sex scandals and Board of Governor's resignations. In that case, they might’ve been able to focus their energies on doing more, across the country, to make minorities more welcome and safer than they are right now. As demographics shift in North America, it is crucial to hockey’s long-term success that they find and fund programs that reach out to traditionally non-hockey-friendly communities and lay out a welcome mat for them. And they need to drive out racists who generally have no place in society, let alone a high-profile, high-status sport. Zero tolerance for hate in hockey. – Finally, here’s hoping for the best for Philadelphia Flyers youngsters Ivan Fedotov and Mikhail Vorobyev, who are two victims of the millions of victims of the current heinous Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. Fedotov and Vorobyev, both 25 years old, have been conscripted into Russian war service. Still, both are currently in different-but-still-awful situations, and they deserve to be supported in every way possible. Fedotov was reportedly arrested in July and charged with suspicion of evading military service, and his trial was expected to begin Thursday in Russia. He could spend as much as two years in prison if found guilty. Meanwhile, Vorobyev pleaded guilty to accusations of bribery while trying to evade war service. He faces up to 12 years in prison. Clearly, this is outrageous. Vorobyev and Fedotov are athletes, not soldiers to be used as pawns in the madman Vladimir Putin’s psychotic power-grab attempts. We cannot let this baseless war fade into the background. The NHLPA and Professional Hockey Players’ Association should be doing everything in its power to set free those players, and protect all others unfairly connected to Russia’s war. If there ever was a reason to band together as a profession and a community and affect real change, this is it.
The Wild's “Law Enforcement Appreciation” campaign isn't going over quite how they planned.
HockeyFeed The Minnesota Wild are under fire after fans have taken issue with a t-shirt that they plan to release in conjunction with their "Law Enforcement Appreciation" night on November 1st against the Montreal Canadiens. The t-shirt features the 'Thin Blue Line' logo that some see as a symbol of extreme right-wing politics and white supremacy hate groups. Regardless of what you feel about law enforcement or the idea of the 'Thin Blue Line', it's clear that this logo is divisive and no longer means what it was first intended to mean. It's also worth noting that some police departments have banned usage of the logo amongst its rank and file. Here's the t-shirt in question: Following backlash from fans the Wild have removed any photos or mention of both the t-shirt and "Law Enforcement Appreciation Night" from their social media channels and their official website. I won't get into the politics of policing in 2022, but I will say that this is one of the dumbest marketing ideas I've seen in a long time. Who thought this was a good idea? Who thought this would go over well with fans? Talk about being completely oblivious... I don't think I need to remind you that Minneapolis was the epicentre of 2020 protests against police brutality following the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officers. Again, talk about having no clue. Check out some of these online reactions from Wild fans concerning the t-shirt:
I think it's safe to say that the Wild are busy behind the scenes either scrapping this entire idea or they're quickly coming up with ideas on how to spin it differently. Or maybe they're licking the police Chief's boots... I dunno... In all seriousness, personally I don't feel like police officers or military officers have any place in the modern day NHL. But, at the same time I don't feel like the National Anthems have any place in the modern day NHL. Ditto for other 'special interest' groups like LGBTQ night, Healthcare Workers night, etc. This is a hockey rink. Let's drop the puck and play some hockey. Leave the virtue signalling for some other league. |
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