NHL final draft order unveiled, Kings release preseason schedule, plus updates on Vincent Lecavalier, Matt Cooke and more.
An estimated 2 million people turned out for the Chicago Blackhawks Stanley Cup victory parade.
CHICAGO TRIBUNE: The city of Chicago estimates two million people turned out for the Chicago Blackhawks Stanley Cup victory parade on Thursday.
NBC SPORTS: Agent Kent Hughes, who represents Philadelphia Flyer center Vincent Lecavalier, said his client won’t retire “under any circumstance”. There was speculation earlier this season Lecavalier might retire before the end of his five-year contract.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: It was suggested Lecavalier might consider retiremet at the end of next season if dealt to another club this summer, allowing him to end his career on his terms. Evidently, that’s not the case.
STARTRIBUNE.COM: The Minnesota Wild have placed forward Matt Cooke on waivers, apparently with the intent of buying out the remainder of his contract in order to clear cap space. Cooke, 36, one more year left on his contract at a $2.5 million cap hit with a $3 million salary.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: This could also mean the Wild are unable to buy out goaltender Niklas Backstrom, who recently underwent elbow surgery.
NHL.COM: The final order of selection for the upcoming 2015 NHL Draft has been released.
THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC: “Glendale officials asked a judge this week to allow the city to skip a $3.75 million payment to the Arizona Coyotes, and in the process outlined the city’s legal argument for terminating its arena agreement with the team.”
LOS ANGELES TIMES: The LA Kings have released their preseason schedule, which kicks off against the Arizona Coyotes on Sept. 21 in Bakersfield.
WGR 500: Buffalo Sabres head coach Dan Bylsma hired Terry Murray and Dave Barr as his assistant coaches.
The speculation is that Matt Cooke and Niklas Backstrom are being bought out to make room for a Phil Kessel trade (in addition to signing Dubnyk).
Charlie Coyle, Nino Niederreiter, and Minnesota’s 1st round pick (20th overall) for Phil Kessel.
Minnesota has a top line of Parise/Koivu/Kessel and 2nd line of Vanek/Granlund/Pomminville. Dangerous…
No truth to that rumor. The Wild aren’t trade Coyle and Niedermayer. They’re freeing up cap space to re-sign Devan Dubnyk and Mikael Granlund.
Yeah, the sources were not exactly the best. Still, the fit makes sense. Minnesota’s core players are 30-ish. They exited meekly in the 2nd round. If they don’t make a play, do they expect any different results? Kessel had twice the points of Coyle and Niederreiter in a down year, on a gong show team, with Bozak as his centre. Minnesota must be tempted by the prospect of what he’d do with real talent to work with, and their young prospects have to be expendable to get an elite 1st line scorer. I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re in on Kessel (though I wouldn’t be surprised if Kessel isn’t moved before the draft either).
No, it makes no sense. The Wild don’t have a lot of cap space. They cannot afford taking on Kessel’s $8 million per season contract. They recently re-signed Coyle and Niederreiter because they are part of the Wild’s long-term plans. They need to re-sign Dubnyk and Granlund.
We have heard gossip recently (last week?) about the Wild potentially looking at moving Koivu (I think a “possible destination” was Montreal, although it was perceived from the discussion to be irrelevant to the Habs needs) which likely was just gossip (much like the Kessel thing). But to entertain that, I figure to get an asset like Kessel from both acquiring him and securing the cap space, one would assume Koivu would be moving back on a deal as it could accomplish both (assuming Toronto would be even interested). Either way, if this is the case, the Wild would have to have identified a quality centre besides Koivu or defeat the purpose of this trade altogether. That alone makes me wonder how real this rumour really is.