HHoF Class of 2016 revealed, latest trades, signings and more in this morning’s collection of NHL headlines.
Eric Lindros, Sergei Makarov, Pat Quinn & Rogie Vachon are the latest inductees into the Hockey Hall of Fame.
NHL.COM: Eric Lindros, Sergei Makarov, Rogie Vachon and Pat Quinn will be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: All I can say about these inductees is “About damn time.” All should’ve been inducted years ago, especially Vachon, who was among the NHL’s best goalies during the late-60s and through most of the 1970s.
THE TENNESSEAN: The Nashville Predators re-signed left wing Filip Forsberg to a six-year, $36-million contract.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: No surprise here. It was expected Forsberg, who tallied over 60 point in each of the past two seasons, would receive a raise in salary to between $6-$7 million per season. That’s the going rate for wingers of his caliber.
MONTREAL GAZETTE: The Canadiens signed recently-acquired center Andrew Shaw to a six-year, $23.4 million contract. His annual cap hit will be $3.9 million.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: A little lengthy and a little pricey, though the salary is cheaper than the $4.5 million per season Shaw allegedly sought from the Chicago Blackhawks. The deal lacks a no-trade clause and is front-loaded.
NBC SPORTS: Justin Schultz, Joe Colborne, Brett Connolly and Brandon Pirri are among the notable RFAs who didn’t receive qualifying offers, making them eligible for unrestricted free agency.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: In most cases, the cost of qualifying them is more expensive than their actual value. Some are also likely salary-cap casualties as their teams cannot afford to qualify their rights. It’s possible some could re-sign with their current clubs as unrestricted free agents, albeit to salaries below what they earned last season.
THE VANCOUVER SUN: The Canucks will buy out winger Chris Higgins, but forward Alex Burrows remains in roster limbo.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The cost of buying out Higgins is over $833K per season through 2017-18.
STLTODAY’s Jeremy Rutherford reports the St. Louis Blues re-signed forward Kyle Brodziak to a two-year contract worth $950K per season.
NBC SPORTS: The Detroit Red Wings re-signed forward Drew Miller to a one-year, $1.025 million contract.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: This signing could also mean the Wings are parting ways with pending UFA forward Darren Helm.
ARIZONA SPORTS: The Arizona Coyotes re-signed goaltender Louis Domingue to a two-year, $2.1 million contract.
SPORTSNET: The Ottawa Senators traded winger Alex Chiasson to the Calgary Flames in exchange for defenceman Pat Sieloff. The Flames promptly re-signed Chiasson to a one-year, $800K contract.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Chiasson failed to develop into a scoring winger with the Senators. He’ll get a chance at a fresh start in Calgary.
TVA SPORTS’ Renaud Lavoie reports the Anaheim Ducks re-signed goalie Dustin Tokarski to a one-year, two-way contract worth $600K at the NHL level.
NHL.COM: The Pittsburgh Penguins re-signed defenseman Tim Erixon to a one-year deal.
CBC.CA: Ron MacLean is officially returning as host of Hockey Night in Canada.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Sportsnet has also released Glenn Healy as its between-the-benches analyst. Intermission analyst Damien Cox is moving on to become the full-time co-host on Bob McCown’s radio show.
NHL.COM: The Nashville Predators hired former NHL defenseman Wade Redden as assistant director of player development.
TORONTO STAR: The Maple Leafs won’t be renewing the contract of ACC public address announcer Andy Frost, who took over the job in 1999-2000.
Healy won’t be missed.
My favorite hockey analyst of all time was Steve Ludzik on the score. If he was able to work, things would be a lot better.
Agreed. He was always solid, personable and knowledgable. Then again I was a fan of what the score was doing.
Has Mark Howe been inducted into the hockey hall of fame yet? I don’t believe he has.
NHL totals
Regular season. 929 197 545 742 455
Playoffs. 101 10 51 61 34
WHA totals
Regular season. 426 208 296 504 198
Playoffs. 75 41 51 92 48
Selected an NHL All-star 5 times.
NHL career leader for shorthanded goals scored by a defenseman (tied for 26th overall among all players) with 28.
Howe was inducted in 2011. http://www.hhof.com/htmlinduct/ind11Howe.shtml
Claude Provost 15yrs 1005 games 589 points 9 Stanley Cups 1 Bill Masrterton and Bob Hull called him his shadow.
Lorne Chabot 201 wins 73 shutouts (11 alltime) 2 Stanley Cups 2 Vezina trophies. When they look at induction of players look back cause there are players still warrant too be inducted. Congratulations too Rogie Vashon on his induction.
Not bad for a “junior B” goalie as Punch Imlach labeled him.
George when did Punch label Chabot a jr. B goalie. Interesting, I just Bought Chabot`s rookie card.
At the start of the 1967 finals – the last Leafs Cup win 49 years ago (and counting) – when he said there was no way his team was going to be beat by a junior B goalie.
I was talking about Rogie Vchon of course.
I wouldn’t jump to the conclusion that Helm is gone. I can see the Wings trading Nyquist for cap space to sign Helm and instead of looking at a top 2 D man, looking for a top 4. Mantha comes up full time and we take a look at Frk or Tangredi. Maybe Erickson is a buy out candidate and possibly a Smith for draft picks. If price is right for Marchenko, I could see him getting shipped out for a draft pick. Howard also in the moveable column. Lots of moving parts in the D this summer. Lots of hypotheticals in these comments.
Geez Dmart, I sure hope the Wings send Nyquist to the Sharks. Great player, although he did disappear in the playoffs two years ago, if I remember right and we already have a couple of guys like that…
No disagreement, he is a good player but Wings have too may smallish skill players that can’t execute in grinder type situations. Plus, he and Tatar were not used well last season and both of their numbers declined as a result. Wish him the best and hope we get some blue line help or a high draft pick in return while freeing up some salary for Oko or maybe even Backes.
Interesting that CBC really went through with those changes. The whole thing was a mess from the start. Replacing MacLean was a travesty, not because I don’t like Strombo, but because Ron MacLean is the greatest TV sports personality my generation has ever seen. Strombo was thrown into a fire he wasn’t prepared for, which I can’t really fault him for trying. It was doomed from the get-go.
Healy drove me nuts. But I have a feeling we haven’t seen the last of him. NBC seems to love guys like him.
They can pair him with Mad Mike Milbury and together they can thoroughly confuse American viewers.
Correct me if I am wrong but I don’t think CBC has any say. It is a Rogers broadcast that is piggy backed on CBC’s feed. The only thing CBC has any control over is the advertisements. Other than the commercial breaks everything is a Rogers Sports net broad cast and CBC simply retained the right to air it.
Quite a list of players not qualified. Pirri makes me laugh as someone had him as a 1st liner !
I expect the higher profile guys will be signed at more contract friendly deals. ( Shultz )
Lindros, polarizing figure but I think they got it right. Look at the skill not the antics.
I did not mind Healy but Im not crying he’s gone. As long as Kypper has a job at SN I’ll always question their decisions.
Pirri had so much promise starting out on Florida. I think he may be one of those cap casualties.
Kypreos is a “homer” just waiting for the opportunity to bust out.
Healy, Kypreos and wosrt off all Pierre Maguire spent the entire playoffs with their lips firmly pressed against Ci dy Crosbys backside rendering the playoffs virtually unwatchable. Im glad Healys gone and can only hope the other nonbiased chuckleheads follow close behind.
Ron Maclean rules!!!!
The little I saw of McGuire was one game in the first round and one in the last. In the first it was more of the typical garbage against the Pens I’m used to (Regis has been named one of the biggest villains to Pens fans for a reason on the recent thing Pens Initiative had been doing). However I did notice a lot of kissing behinds by the last round where it was clear the Pens were dominating their way to a win. If you ask me, He’s still sore about being passed over for the GM position a few years ago.
Healy on the other hand I do agree with but I would say it’s beyond that in him being tired and stale with his contributions.
Strombo is a nice guy and is a decent interviewer but should have started off doing interviews and working his way to the desk over time as people got comfortable with him being associated with HNIC. Overall, I’m just glad to see Maclean back and am pretty pumped about David Amber doing the late game (he’s what Strombo should aspire – getting your stripes with interviews and commentary before graduating to a larger role).