from Jonathan Bombulie of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Revies, The Penguins are one of at least 10 teams that might be pushed over the cap after signing all their remaining RFAs. The handful of teams with extra cap space could sit back and take their pick of suddenly available players over the next 10 weeks or so. Here’s a quick look at teams who are still battling cap issues into late July. • The Toronto Maple Leafs might be able to fit Mitch Marner’s eight-figure salary under their cap now that they’ve moved Nazem Kadri to Colorado, but they might not. • The Tampa Bay Lightning traded away J.T. Miller to make some room, but the big contract Brayden Point is about to command will stretch the limits of their cap. • Adding Miller and suffering a cap penalty when Roberto Luongo retired left the Vancouver Canucks in a tight situation once they re-sign Brock Boeser. • The bill is starting to come due for the talented young defense corps the Boston Bruins have assembled. Charlie McAvoy and Brandon Carlo need new contracts. more teams and more on the Penguins...

Nashville, Tenn. (July 22, 2019) - Nashville Predators President of Hockey Operations/GM David Poile announced Tuesday that the team has signed forward Colton Sissons to a seven-year, $20 million contract through the 2025-26 season. "Colton will be an important part of our team for the next seven seasons, and we are happy he has made a long-term commitment to our organization and the city the Nashville," Poile said. "He's a heart and soul player who is versatile and can fill many important roles on our team, including on the penalty kill and power play. His offensive production has increased each season, and he remains an integral part of our defensive structure down the middle of the ice. Colton is also an up-and-coming leader in our organization, which is something we value strongly." Sissons, 25 (11/5/93), is coming off a 2018-19 campaign that saw him set career highs in goals (15) and points (30) in 75 games with the Predators. He accumulated double-digit goals and assists (15) for the first time in NHL career and added eight multi-point games, a career best. Sissons recorded a +20 plus-minus, tied for the sixth-highest by a forward in Predators history, and was second on the team in face-off percentage, winning 53.1 percent of his draws. Additionally, he appeared in all six of Nashville's Stanley Cup Playoff games and notched his second career hat trick on Nov. 7, 2018, at Colorado.

This is going to happen involve TOR getting a fourth-round pick and sending Garret Sparks to LV https://t.co/jW31SrHTDR — Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) July 23, 2019

from Damien Cox of the Toronto Star, ...today’s topic will be the quality of Toronto’s NHL goaltending staff. Blame Neuvirth. He started it by talking to a Czech newspaper and blabbing that he’s signed a professional tryout offer with the Leafs. Neuvirth’s not the reincarnation of Jacques Plante, but he’s also not a total stiff. He’s 31 years old and looking for work, has played for four NHL teams and most of the time has been a pretty competent netminder. Neuvirth played for Dave Hakstol and the Philadelphia Flyers last season, and presumably now that Hakstol’s an assistant to Mike Babcock with the Leafs, he was asked about Neuvirth and didn’t say bringing him in on a PTO would be about as useful as that time Devin Setoguchi came in for a look-see. That said, it might be. Neuvirth was lousy in his brief workload with the Flyers last year, but we can probably agree Philly hasn’t exactly been a place where goalies go to thrive since, well, the days of Pelle Lindbergh. Carter Hart might be the next great Flyers goalie, but he’ll have to hack his way through kilometres of Philadelphia goaltending scar tissue to get there. So the Leafs are bringing in Neuvirth because Garret Sparks failed as the backup to Andersen last year, and nobody’s convinced Michael Hutchinson is capable of unseating Sparks. Notice, by the way, we didn’t say Sparks has proven he can’t do the job. He’s been a late bloomer throughout his career, and anybody who has tracked him through junior and pro hockey wouldn’t be surprised if he bounced back. more

from the Calgary Flames, The City of Calgary, Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corporation and the Calgary Exhibition and Stampede Limited confirmed today that they have agreed to fundamental terms and conditions for the development and construction of a new public sports and entertainment event centre. The agreement lays out the terms of a partnership that will see the creation of facilities to serve as public gathering places for significant events, attract world-leading performing artists and serve as a new home to the Calgary Flames, Hitmen and Roughnecks. In addition to the new event centre, the vision for the area adjacent to the facility includes a purpose-built outdoor festival space and infrastructure enhancements to Stampede Park, all of which will serve as a catalyst for the development of Calgary's Culture and Entertainment District.   continued

from Ken Campbell of The Hockey News, With Lucic’s contract now dealt, let’s look at the top 10 seemingly untradeable contracts in today’s NHL. Only contracts with at least four seasons remaining were considered: Justin Abdelkader, Detroit: The Red Wings are on the hook for four more years with a $4.25-million cap hit. That’s an awful lot of money to pay a guy who gives you little more than quality leadership and serves as a mentor for the young players in the organization. Abdelkader posted a career-low with six goals and tied his worst season with just 19 points in 2018-19. Abdelkader was once an effective two-way winger, but at 32, those days are behind him. nine more players...

from Nathan Joyes of Gambling Insider, Former American Gaming Association (AGA) executive Sara Slane will work as a consultant for the National Hockey League (NHL), advising its teams on sports betting strategies. Slane has been brought in to help the league grow its presence within gaming, with the expansion of legalised sports betting across the US well underway. Slane has confimed she has offered her support to the NHL when it comes to forming new partnerships, gaming legislation and the gaming and sports betting marketplace. Nine NHL teams are located in states where sports betting has been legalised, with North Carolina the next state likely to join the list. continue for a bit more...

from Travis Yost of TSN, One of the questions I’ve wrestled with over the years is how to value individual offensive contributions from defencemen, particularly when it comes to goal scoring. It’s an important subject because, much like forwards, there is a strong correlation between two components – usage (or, ice time) and scoring – and the contracts they will subsequently sign. For forwards, it’s rudimentary but somewhat defensible. Most high-end forwards tend to be great individual scorers, and scoring for forwards is a much more repeatable talent. These players also tend to drive favourable goal differentials, which helps broadly justify the contracts they sign.            It’s a different animal for defencemen. We know that there is also variability in shooting talent with defenders, but it’s much more difficult to pin down. There are a multitude of reasons for this but the most obvious is the fact that they are materially further from the net, on average, when they shoot. continued

From the last season, just over 5 minutes to watch.  

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – USA Hockey announced today that NHL Network will televise live the final three days of games at the 2019 World Junior Summer Showcase. The week-long event will include 11 international competitions featuring the best Under-20 players from four nations - the U.S., Canada, Finland and Sweden - auditioning for a spot to represent their country in the 2020 IIHF World Junior Championship. Collectively, the four teams have skated in at least one of the last three IIHF World Junior Championship gold-medal games. In 2017, the U.S. defeated Canada in a thrilling 5-4 shootout victory before Canada topped Sweden, 3-1, a year later. This past January, Finland edged the U.S., 3-2, to win gold.

Almost 4 minutes of big hits from the NHL regular season.  

from Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press, As he set about to patch the Detroit Red Wings’ lineup, new general manager Steve Yzerman had a self-created mandate: no long-term contracts. His venture into the unrestricted free agent market yielded forward Valtteri Filppula, defenseman Patrik Nemeth and goaltender Calvin Pickard. All were signed to two-year deals. Yzerman’s reasoning makes sense: describing himself as “somewhat new to the organization,” he sought to make the Wings more competitive without saddling the roster with deals that might complicate re-signing Anthony Mantha, Andreas Athanasiou and Tyler Bertuzzi (all of whom are entering a contract year) or limit opportunities for prospects. The signings reflect a team in rebuilding mode. Free agency was more fun back when the Wings were a contender. Here is a lock back at their 10 best and worst unrestricted free agency signings from 1998-2018. Hits 1. D Brian Rafalski Signed: 2007 (5 years, $30 million) A master at tape-to-tape passes, Rafalski produced 204 points in 292 regular-season games and 40 points in 63 playoff games before retiring early because of injuries. continued

4 1/2 minutes to watch. via the Toronto Sun's YouTube page,  

Yes, I am around but not much news at all the last few days. Unless you want to discuss the James Neal/Milan Lucic trade but I don't think you want to do that today. So, I am going in relaxed mode, if I see something worth posting I will, otherwise going to help a neighbor who had some storm damage yesterday.

“I never got the feeling it was personal against me, and in fact Gary Bettman told me a number of times that he knew that the decision had come down from Dave and ownership and that he had no problem with me. “Those rumors about Gary blackballing me from the league because of Sakic weren’t true. But there was a lot of resentment against the Rangers. I don’t regret what I did, I gave them my best advice that it wouldn’t work, but I regret that ownership made us do that.” -Who said it? An interesting read.

Matthew DeFranks, Stars beat writer for SportsDayDFW.com and The Dallas Morning News, answered your questions about the team in a live chat recently. Here are some of the highlights: Question: Some are comparing this Stars team to the 1999 championship squad. Do you think that's going too far? DeFranks: Yes. That 1999 team had six Hall of Famers. Comparing the two would be very premature, especially considering that the 1998 Stars team won the Presidents' Trophy and the 1997 Stars team was tied for second-best in the league. This year's Stars are not at that level. But they don't have to outrun the bear (the 1999 Stars), they just have to outrun the others (the 2019-20 NHL teams). continue for more Q & A, mostly Dallas related...

"I would love to be with St. Louis. I would love to play here again. Me and (general manager) Doug (Armstrong) talk. We've had conversations, and I think it's tough right now. [There are] a lot of restricted free agents right now, and everyone's trying to find their number. The cap really didn't go up. I'm just enjoying it. I'm just going to take the time and really soak it all in. I know I've got a lot left in the tank, a couple years. I've got three solid years I can give someone." "I'm ready to compete and play for any team that wants me. I'm a guy you can probably use in the locker room, a good veteran guy. I don't really pump my tires up too much, but I feel like I've done a good job of bringing guys together and being a locker room guy. I think anyone can use me right now." -UFA Patrick Maroon.  Louie Korac at NHL.com has more.

via Sportsnet's YouTube page, Russian hockey insider Slava Malamud joins Sportsnet 590 The FAN to discuss the reception of Artemi Panarin’s comments about President Vladimir Putin in Russia, and to speculate what might happen to the Russian NHL star.  

from Kevin Paul Dupont of the Boston Globe, The NHL allows no substitutions for injured players, so the coach who loses a defenseman or two, must fly the plane with his back line manpower seriously diminished. Manpower among the forwards, typically 12 in number to start the night, typically isn’t as impaired when one or two forwards go down. Double shifting or scaling back to a three-line attack can fill the void. Past practices, finances and sheer bench size aside, the NHL would do well to borrow from the European leagues. Other than Finland, all the professional Euro leagues dress 20 skaters, with coaches typically electing to go with 13 forwards and seven defenseman. By and large, unless there is need to fill in for an injury, each extra sees limited playing time. more plus other hockey topics...

from Mark Spector of Sportnst, Milan Lucic for James Neal. Two 31-year-old unhappy players who failed to live up to their multi-year UFA deals, swapped in a one-for-one — almost. Because Lucic’s contract presents a more difficult buy-out, the Oilers have tossed in a conditional third-round pick in 2020. Also, the Oilers will retain $750,000 of Lucic’s salary, marking the end of a long, unsuccessful chapter of Lucic’s career, having scored just 16 goals in his past 161 games.... Neal is a scorer — pure and simple. He doesn’t do much else for you when he’s not scoring. And, for a guy who has scored 20 goals or more in 10 of his 11 NHL seasons, he’s been traded three times now and was left open in the Vegas expansion draft. That points to character issues, plain and simple. In Edmonton, however, where Connor McDavid and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins are starving for a right-winger who can score, can Neal become a 20-goal man once again? If he can, Edmonton wins the trade, as it is unlikely Lucic will see the offensive opportunity in Calgary that awaits Neal in Edmonton. Because anyone who has watched Lucic stumble through the past two seasons wouldn’t bet you a nickel that he will ever be a top-six producer ever again. All that remains in Lucic’s skillset is size and intimidation, both of which have diminishing value in today’s game. read on

via TSN's YouTube page, Tom Wilson (Washington Capitals) & Sean Monahan (Calgary Flames)  describe the differences in hockey culture and basketball culture in 2019. Fans soak up the pettiness in the NBA, while NHL players are starting to push the limits of the dress code. A snippet from the Cabbie Presents Podcast.  

from Brett Cyrgalis of the New York Post, Now the Rangers are officially in a bind. As expected, the club signed restricted-free-agent defenseman Jacob Trouba on Friday to a seven-year, $56 million deal that carries an annual salary cap hit of $8 million. That temporarily puts the Blueshirts into the summer allowance over the cap ceiling of $81.5 million, with just over a month to figure out how to cut some salary. That could very well include trading Chris Kreider and the one year remaining on his deal at $4.625 million, and continuing to look for anyone willing to bite on the one year and $4 million left for Vladislav Namestnikov. Certainly this also makes things more difficult for the three remaining restricted free agents — Pavel Buchnevich (with an arbitration hearing set for July 29), Brendan Lemieux, and Tony DeAngelo. It also makes the buying out of defensemen Kevin Shattenkirk (two more years at $6.65 million per) and Brendan Smith (two more years at $4.35 million per) a lot more real. If Smith clears waivers and heads to AHL Hartford, then the Rangers would save $1.25 million against the cap. continued

Milan Lucic days as a @EdmontonOilers are over. With Lucic waving his no move clause it opens up the trade to @NHLFlames. At this point sounding like a 1 for 1 trade for James Neal. @NHL — Nick Kypreos (@RealKyper) July 19, 2019

NEW YORK, July 19, 2019 – The New York Rangers announced today that the team has agreed to terms with restricted free agent defenseman Jacob Trouba. Trouba, 25, skated in 82 games with Winnipeg this past season, registering eight goals and 42 assists for 50 points, along with a plus-eight rating and 58 penalty minutes. He established career-highs in several categories in 2018-19, including games played, assists, and points. Trouba was tied for ninth among NHL defensemen in assists during the past season (tied with Erik Karlsson and Victor Hedman), and he also ranked 13th among NHL defensemen in points during the season. Of the 13 NHL defensemen who recorded 50 or more points in 2018-19, Trouba received the least amount of power play ice time during the season (168:52; next lowest was Thomas Chabot – 205:41). In addition, Trouba’s 42 assists were the second-most by an NHL defenseman 25 years old or younger this past season (trailing only Morgan Rielly), and his 50 points were the third-most by an NHL defenseman 25 years old or younger (trailing only Rielly and Chabot). He also ranked sixth in the NHL in blocked shots in 2018-19 (171). The 6-3, 202-pounder led the Jets in total ice time (1,876:00), total shorthanded ice time (201:57), and blocked shots, ranked second in average ice time (22:53) and average shorthanded ice time (2:28), tied for second in power play assists (15), ranked third in assists and even strength assists (25), and tied for fourth in points (50; tied with Patrik Laine) in 2018-19. Trouba tallied 35 points (five goals, 30 assists) over the final 44 games of the regular season. He helped Winnipeg advance to the Stanley Cup Playoffs during the past season, and he recorded one assist in six playoff contests.

from Meghan Potkins of the Calgary Herald, A tentative deal has been reached between the city and the Calgary Flames for a new arena to replace the Saddledome. City council members will discuss the proposed agreement at 3:45 p.m. Monday behind closed doors, Postmedia has learned. Negotiations between the two camps were recently described as “productive” by the chair of council’s event centre committee. Council could potentially host a public debate on the proposed agreement before elected officials break for the summer in August, Mayor Naheed Nenshi said Friday. “I look forward to continuing conversations,” Nenshi said. “I know a lot of folks have been working very hard to see if there is something there that meets the criteria that we’ve talked about — the most important criteria, of course, being public money must have public benefit. And I really look forward to seeing where people are at. “I’m hopeful there will be some stuff to talk about with the public on Monday.” continued

from the CP at TSN, The 22-year-old opened his Marner All-Star Invitational on Thursday night just north of the city, and while the focus was on raising money for worthy causes, the conversation inevitably pivoted to negotiations between himself and the team. "I'm just trying to stay away from the talk," Marner said. "I've been spending most of my summer up by the lake and relaxing. "(My agent has been) dealing with everything and has done a great job." Marner directed questions about contract talks to that agent, Darren Ferris, who was in attendance. Ferris declined to comment. "He's done this a lot longer than I have," Marner said. "I've got all my confidence in him." read on

It seems like only yesterday the St. Louis Blues beat the Boston Bruins to win the 2019 Stanley Cup title. And yet it seems like we’re just around the corner from the 2019-20 NHL season – and to prove it, the full title odds are already out.

from A.J. Perez of USA TODAY, New York Rangers star Artemi Panarin rebuked the refrain from many in his native Russia — including ballet icon Anastasia Volochkova — who say they can leave the country if they are upset over the state of affairs under longtime leader Vladimir Putin.  “All the major brains have already left (Russia),"  Panarin told journalist Alexander Golovin who posted the hourlong interview on YouTube. "That's not the way it should be." continued

from NHLSeatte, NHL Seattle named Ron Francis the first General Manager in franchise history on July 18, 2019.  Francis brings an acclaimed skill for evaluating NHL-caliber talent and his renowned hockey IQ will determine the franchise's style of play. "After seven months of due diligence, research, conversations, interviews and evaluation, we are thrilled to announce Ron as our GM," said NHL Seattle CEO Tod Leiweke. continued

from the YouTube page of the NHL, Recognizing the weirdest, wackiest and funniest hockey personalities, teams and moments from the 2018-19 NHL season with a wide range of honors including weirdest player (Weird NHL Hart Trophy), strangest goaltender (Weird NHL Vezina Trophy) and the inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award Watch the 53 minute video below.

from NHL.com, The National Hockey League announced today that Washington Capitals Captain Alex Ovechkin will visit China the week of August 4th serving as an international ambassador for the League. Ovechkin's trip to Beijing will include youth hockey clinics, a media tour and business development meetings. "It is a huge honor for me to be an ambassador for the entire Washington Capitals organization and the National Hockey League for this special trip to China," Ovechkin said. "I think it is very important to spend time to help make people all over the world see how great a game hockey is. I can't wait to spend time with all the hockey fans there and I hope to meet young kids who will be future NHL players. I can't wait for this trip!"... "We are very excited that Alex Ovechkin will be joining us in China this summer," David Proper, NHL Executive Vice President of Media and International Strategy said. "Alex represents the best in sports, as he epitomizes that combination of great talent, great personality and great sportsmanship. He is the perfect person to represent the NHL's efforts to grow hockey in China." more

Un rappel pour vous aviser que le DekHockey St-Eustache sera fermé durant les 2 semaines de la construction!

Bonne vacances!

DETROIT – The Detroit Red Wings today re-signed defenseman Joe Hicketts to a two-year contract. Hicketts, 23, skated in 11 games with the Red Wings during the 2018-19 campaign and has totaled 16 NHL appearances over the last two seasons, compiling three assists, two penalty minutes, 18 shots on goal, 26 hits and 39 blocked shots in 18:12 average time on ice. Hicketts also appeared in 64 games with the American Hockey League’s Grand Rapids Griffins in 2018-19 and more-than-doubled his point total from the previous season, leading the team’s defensemen with 27 points (3-24-27) in 64 games. Entering his fourth professional season, Hicketts has played 204 AHL games with the Griffins since 2016-17, posting 73 points (13-60-73), a plus-seven rating and 139 penalty minutes. He captured a 2017 Calder Cup championship as a rookie and has recorded 11 points (1-10-11), a plus-seven rating and 18 penalty minutes in 29 career AHL postseason games.

DENVER – The Colorado Avalanche Hockey Club announced today that the team has signed forward J.T. Compher to a four-year contract through the 2022-23 season. Compher, 24, finished fifth on the Avalanche with 16 goals and tied for the team lead with three shorthanded tallies in 66 games during the 2018-19 campaign.  His 16 goals, 16 assists and 32 points all surpassed his rookie season totals from 2017-18.  The Northbrook, Illinois, native was one of eight NHL players with at least three shorthanded, power-play and game-winning goals in 2018-19, joining Sebastian Aho, Cam Atkinson, Patrice Bergeron, Blake Coleman, Leon Draisaitl, Brad Marchand and Brandon Saad.  Compher was the first Avalanche player to accomplish that feat (at least three SHG, PPG and GWG in a season) since Joe Sakic in 2000-01. Compher added six points (4g/2a) in 12 playoff games, with his four goals tying for third on the team.  He set a playoff career high with two goals and three points in Game 6 of Colorado’s second-round series against San Jose on May 6, becoming the first Avalanche player to record three or more points in an elimination game since Alex Tanguay in Game 7 of the 2001 Stanley Cup Final.  The 6-foot, 193-pound forward finished with two goals and three points during the first round series against Calgary, with both tallies coming in the third period of overtime victories (Games 2 and 4). “J.T. has been one of our most versatile forwards over the past two years,” said Avalanche Executive Vice President / General Manager Joe Sakic. “He plays on our power play, kills penalties and has played up and down our lineup.  He has scored some big goals late in games and we are counting on him to have an even more expanded role moving forward.  We are excited to have him under contract for the next four seasons.” Numerous reports is the AAV is $3.5M

from Dave Stevenson of PuckProse (Fansided), Detroit Red Wings: Justin Abdelkader Contract: $4.25 million cap hit over the next four seasons; Full no-trade clause until 2020, modified no-trade clause (depending on if Red Wings make playoffs and playing time) through 2023 The Detroit Red Wings used to be the model of consistency in the NHL. In order to remain that way for a few more seasons, general manager Ken Holland signed a bunch of bad deals. None of them look worse right now than Justin Abdelkader’s. According to Evolving Hockey, his -1.4 WAR was not only the second-worst among all Red Wings skaters, but it was also the eighth-worst in the entire league (minimum 800 minutes during all situations). continued plus one bad contract for every NHL team...