August 05, 2005
Rink Notes
Things are slowing down, but not before the last remaining impact guy got signed. About that Stanley Cup defense:
Stanley Cup-winning goalie Nikolai Khabibulin signed a four-year, $27 million contract with the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday, leaving the defending champion Tampa Bay Lightning.
Khabibulin played in 55 regular-season games for the Lightning during 2003-04, posting a 28-19-7 record with three shutouts, a 2.33 goals against average and a .910 save percentage.
And here comes the understatement of the year in the NHL:
"Is it a setback? It is," Lightning general manager Jay Feaster said.
Feaster added that Tampa Bay will be looking for another goaltender either through the free agent market or by a trade. Khabibulin's backup with the Lightning, John Grahame will be given a shot to win the top job.
"John Grahame is licking his chops to compete for that spot," Feaster said.
John Fontana had some thoughts before the levy broke.
Curtis Joseph is making some noise about playing in Pittsburgh. And apparently Edmonton isn't done yet, as they're taking a hard look at Paul Kariya.
TD back in TO. Brendan Morrison stays in Vancouver. The Rangers signed Ville Nieminen and Jay Ward. If I was a geneticist, I'd try to figure out a way to cross Nieminen's hockey skills with Christopher Walken's demeanor.
Here in D.C., other than seeing Chris Clark acquired, it's been silence on the Potomac:
"Our strategy is to spend money on the right player at the right price," [George] McPhee said last night. "We think this market is very overpriced. It's akin to jumping into the stock market when it's at its height. We've been involved in discussions, but we are not going to jeopardize the future of this hockey club.
"Some teams are going to regret [the long-term free agent] deals in a few years. The salary cap could go down next year. That would put some teams in quite a bind. We're committed to playing our young players next season."
The Clark acquisition seems to have had little impact with the Washington fans.
Sydney Crosby acquitted himself well on Leno last night, though I made the mistake of sitting through two segments of Rob Schneider pumping Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo. It didn't help that Leno's director kept cutting back to Schneider during Crosby's segment -- and so deftly that it looked pre-planned.
And finally, here's a photo from the memory file. Thanks to Chris Lynch for the pointer, so to speak.
UPDATE: Finally, some good news from the Caps. Something tells me that Alex is going to get a lot of ice time.
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So last year the Caps tell us that the salary/player dumps that sent half the team away were to clear (cap) space for the NHL's new economic situation. So that situation is arrives and the best the Caps can do so far is CHRIS CLARK? Lame.
Posted by:
at August 5, 2005 03:06 PM
As a fellow follower of a Southeast Division team, I'm sure you share my glee in seeing Khabibulin not only leave the division, but also leave the conference! I'll take my chances against my namesake anytime. - JGraham
Posted by:
at August 5, 2005 09:55 PM
No Kariya for Edmonton - he's a Predator now.
Posted by:
at August 5, 2005 11:19 PM
Word around town is that Handzus is the Oilers' Plan B. The asking price for Kariya ended up being a little steep...
Posted by:
at August 6, 2005 02:36 AM
This is getting depressing. How great would Handzus be in a Caps sweater? But of course, Handzus' affordable, Selke-worthy self wouldn't fit in on a Caps team apparently single-mindedly determined to help Olie set the single-season record for shots faced per game. (Didn't he lead the league in this category whenever they last played?)
Posted by:
at August 6, 2005 10:57 AM
Lord no. Luongo was around 34 spg... he set the all-time record for shots faced in '04.
Posted by:
at August 6, 2005 10:21 PM
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