Chuck Greenberg, who's reportedly in the market to purchase the Carolina Hurricanes, spent some time Monday checking out the team's practice facility as part of a fact-finding trip, according to Chip Alexander of the News & Observer.
On July 13, Bloomberg News reported Greenberg was close to purchasing the club for approximately $500 million in a deal that would keep the team in North Carolina. The Hurricanes later confirmed owner Peter Karmanos Jr. is indeed considering an offer to sell.
Alexander added Greenberg would not discuss the details of his visit, nor comment on the reported sale. The potential ownership group, however, is believed to include local investors.
Greenberg is the former CEO of the Texas Rangers and remains involved in the ownership of three minor-league baseball teams.
Dumoulin was initially injured in Game 5 of the first round versus the Columbus Blue Jackets after blocking a slap shot. After keeping it a secret and hoping to let it heal, Dumoulin's hand was broken multiple times as he suited up in all 25 of the Penguins' postseason contests.
"It would get better for a little bit," Dumoulin said. "I'd do a cross-check then it would break again. It was a process."
The 25-year-old led Pittsburgh by logging 21:59 per game in the playoffs, and chipped in six points along the way despite the ailment.
"It was tough to play with it, but obviously everybody had injuries," he said. "It's all healed up now. They were deciding on surgery or not at the end of the season, but doctors so a little bit of healing."
Dumoulin said he doesn't know how many times he broke and re-broke his hand, but clearly the injury wasn't debilitating enough to prevent him from hoisting his second Stanley Cup in as many years - or stop him from putting his signature on a fresh contract that will pay him $4.1 million per season until 2023.
"It's been an interesting few months for me to say the least."
That's how Buffalo Sabres winger Kyle Okposo began an open letter posted on the team's website in which he thanked all those who reached out during his time away from the ice and shed some light on the illness that forced him to be hospitalized and miss the end of the regular season.
It all started, Okposo explained, with a hard bump from a routine hit in practice, and climaxed following a game against the Florida Panthers on March 27, his last of the season.
Okposo had been losing sleep, and, after being removed from the lineup for a game the next night due to a lack of appetite, went to the hospital with the hope that doctors could help him get some rest.
He was given sleep medication that caused a negative reaction - including continued lack of sleep and rapid weight loss - and was later admitted to the Neuro Surgical Intensive Care Unit at Buffalo General in order to be stabilized.
After prioritizing time with family following his release, he's now on the road back to the Sabres' lineup, beginning with a stint in this summer's Da Beauty League.
I've worked with a lot of different people - concussion experts and people who have dealt with concussions themselves - and I feel confident in the fact that I can play hockey again. In fact, I know I can play again.
I know I can play and not worry about hitting my head, which is a major hurdle for someone who's dealt with this. If I didn't feel 100 percent right now, that probably wouldn't be the case.
Okposo added he feels great after playing in the Minnesota-based summer league, and can't wait to get back to Buffalo to begin preparing for the team's first season under new general manager Jason Botterill and new head coach Phil Housley.
The whole ordeal, however, has changed his outlook on his place in the game.
Dealing with an injury like this can change your perspective on life. It makes you evaluate what's truly important. Hockey, of course, is extremely important to me. It's my job, and it's what I've done my whole life. But in saying that, I also don't want hockey to define me as a person. I want to be somebody who is known as a good person first and foremost.
Okposo has six years remaining on his contract with the Sabres, and will carry a salary cap hit of $6 million through to the end of 2022-23.
The New York Islanderssigned the 22-year-old defenseman to a four-year extension Monday, a deal which runs through the 2020-21 season.
Pelech split last season between the Islanders and the AHL's Bridgeport Sound Tigers. He tallied 10 points in 44 games with the Islanders, plus five points in 13 minor-league contests.
"Adam has proven at a very young age that he's capable of playing an important defensive role on our team," Islanders president and general manager Garth Snow said in a statement. "He will be an important piece of our defensive core moving forward and I'm excited to watch him continue to develop at the NHL level."
The 35-year-old, who tallied nine points in 52 games last season, could take home an additional $1.25 million should he meet certain ice-time and games-played requirements, and if the Senators qualify for the postseason.
But it wasn't about the money for Oduya. Rather, it was the opportunity to win, something the two-time Stanley Cup champion is acutely familiar with.
"He wanted to go to a team that had a chance to win," Senators general manager Pierre Dorion told TSN 1200 on Monday. "I know for a fact that a team offered him more money and he chose to go to (the Senators) just for the reason that he felt it was a better fit and they have a better chance to win."
The Senators proved to be tough competition in last year's playoffs, as they advanced to the conference finals, but came up one goal short against the eventual Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins.
The hope is that Oduya can help build on last year's squad, much of which will return in 2017-18, minus top-pairing defenseman Marc Methot who was lost in the expansion draft. Methot played alongside Senators captain Erik Karlsson last season, a duty that could shift to Oduya in the coming campaign.
Dorion noted that Oduya's experience allows him to fit anywhere on the blue line, but in any event, was happy to get him signed as the two sides had been in contract talks since July 2, just after free agency opened.
"This was the one defenseman that we were really on from the start," Dorion added. "Just what we're looking for, for the right fit for our team."
Player agent Lewis Gross is a busy man these days.
Gross has been going hard negotiating contracts for a couple of his clients and one of those - Brian Dumoulin - is reaping the benefits after inking a six-year, $24.6-million deal on Monday.
With Dumoulin now inked to a deal, Lewis' priorities will now shift to fellow Pittsburgh Penguin, forward Conor Sheary, who also remains a restricted free agent seeking a deal.
"We've been working on Conor for a while," Gross said, according to Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "We'll get back at it (Tuesday). Hopefully we'll be able to make a deal on Conor as well."
Lewis doesn't necessarily believe the process will go down the same way Dumoulin's did, but in the end he believes both sides would like to avoid arbitration.
"Each one is so different," Gross said. "Ultimately, though, team and player would like to avoid going in that room. It's not a pleasant experience."
Sheary has quickly become an important cog in the Penguins' offense, helping the team in its back-to-back Stanley Cup runs. This past season - his first full campaign in the NHL - he tallied 23 goals and 53 points in 61 games.
The Penguins and Sheary are scheduled to have an arbitration meeting on Aug. 4.
Pat LaFontaine was one of the best forwards of his generation, racking up 1,013 points in 865 games over his 15-year NHL career. And like many other players, his best work came during the 1992-93 season, when he amassed 148 points with the Buffalo Sabres - one of the top 20 single-season totals in NHL history. I recently spoke with LaFontaine about that historic performance:
So that 1992-93 season was incredible, not just for you, but for a lot of guys. Do you find yourself talking about it much these days?
I do. When I run into hockey fans, they either want to talk about the Easter Epic (when LaFontaine scored the winning goal for the New York Islanders at 8:47 of the fourth overtime period in a playoff win over Washington) or the 1992-93 season. The stars seemed to align for so many players and teams that year. Obviously it was a career year for me from a stats perspective.
Let's start with the season before. Without getting into the specifics of the nature of the trade, how did you feel about leaving Long Island and starting the next stage of your career in Buffalo?
Obviously I have strong ties to Long Island. My wife is from there, my oldest daughter was born there ... it is near and dear to my heart. I really enjoyed my time with the Islanders; I had the privilege of playing with five Hall of Famers, I played for the Stanley Cup, and I learned a lot from guys who had won multiple championships.
I prided myself on consistent, high-level play - and I had enjoyed some success playing with (Brian) Trottier, (Mike) Bossy, Bob Nystrom, and Denis Potvin. And with Al Arbour as the coach, I learned so much at a young age. There was a great foundation there. But then we went through a dismantling; the team was trying to rebuild.
The trade was about principle for me (LaFontaine and the Islanders were embroiled in a contract dispute that led to him sitting out the start of the season.) But between Alexander Mogilny and Dave Andreychuk, and other guys like Dale Hawerchuk, Doug Bodger, and Donald Audette, I felt there were a lot of great players in Buffalo. And we found chemistry right off the bat.
You had enjoyed some offensive success with the Islanders, but in your first year in Buffalo, you hit a whole other level. What changed?
I think for me, I was just fortunate. (The Islanders) were going through a period of transition; reloading didn't work, so they went with a rebuild, focusing on younger players. They were going in a different direction. I was in the middle of my career when I arrived in Buffalo, and I was fortunate to be put between two terrific players in Andreychuk and Mogilny.
It must have been exciting to be flanked by two elite goal scorers.
I remember thinking, "Mogilny has so much talent." I have never seen anyone faster between the blue lines. So I tell him, "Let's do some give-and-gos. You're so quick between the lines, just let me get the puck to you." I also encouraged him to shoot more; he had a great shot, but didn't shoot enough.
There's a story I like to tell. Alex had three areas of the ice where he liked to shoot from. I told Alex, "Trust me to get you the puck there. If you do, I guarantee you'll score 50 goals." And when he skated away, I told the trainer "If he does that, I bet you he'll score 70." The trainer laughed and walked away. And sure enough, Alex scored 76.
Andreychuk was that big body who tipped a lot of pucks. He was great at creating traffic in front of the net. We had such great chemistry; things just took off. We had a lot of fun playing together. I felt like I had a sixth sense out there, and it made for some fun synergy.
You wound up losing a heartbreaking seven-game series to the Boston Bruins in the opening round of the 1992 playoffs. Did that sit with you?
It was tough. We were still learning, evolving, and growing as a team. So it was a good learning experience. It was definitely frustrating, but it was a stepping stone for us.
John Muckler took over behind the bench during that season, and 1992-93 represented his first full campaign in Buffalo. What did he bring to the team that year?
John is a really brilliant systems guy. He's so good at breaking down film and coming up with a game plan for the best way to attack an opponent through puck pursuit and other areas. He was part of a high-tempo offensive attack in Edmonton, and he brought a lot of that with him to Buffalo.
I saw him recently, and thanked him for bringing such high-tempo, high-IQ hockey to that team. The focus on puck pursuit, faceoffs, tempo ... it made the game a lot more fun to play. I really enjoyed it.
You had an opportunity to play with Hawerchuk, one of the greatest passing centers in history. What did you learn from him?
He was Gretzky-like in his hockey IQ. I remember watching him in Windsor for the Memorial Cup when he was playing with Cornwall; I followed him. His ability to see the ice, his amazing hands ... he had his own style, very high thinking, high IQ. We made such a great 1-2 punch in Buffalo.
You look at some of the best teams in history, you have Gretzky-Messier, you have Crosby-Malkin. Great teams often have multiple threats up the middle. Dale and I also played on the power play together that season, and there are times the puck would just appear on my stick. It was amazing.
So you get off to a great start, and the Sabres put together a nice run heading into February. And then, the trade: Andreychuk and Daren Puppa to Toronto for Grant Fuhr. What was your reaction?
It was tough. Dave brought size, goal-scoring, and that ability to cause traffic in front of the net. He had amazing hands, and was great as the third guy high in the slot. He was a huge presence, a huge contributor to our success.
You have to trust management - and in this case, it was a win-win trade. We paid a price, but I had the privilege of being inducted into the Hall of Fame with Grant Fuhr. He's a great player and an unbelievable person. You can think about what would have happened had the trade not taken place, but the deal worked out for us.
You take the scoring lead and hold it into March, sitting with a double-digit advantage over Mario Lemieux upon his return from treatment for Hodgkin's disease. Did you think you might win the scoring title?
I wasn't personally following it. I was focused on our chemistry and going about my business - but the guys brought it up. And I remember Mario going on an amazing tear to end the season. But the guys made more of it as the season went along. I remember being on the bus after a win, and I had four points in that game, and someone shouted, "Mario had five!" (laughs)
Mario and I have history going back to junior. Laval-Verdun was the marquee matchup (in the QMJHL); he played for Laval, and I played for Verdun. I was 17, he was 16. He had a huge lead on me at Christmas, and our team went out and got Gerard Gallant. The two of us clicked, and I came back to beat him by 50 points. I think he remembered. (laughs)
Were you disappointed at not coming out on top?
I have the greatest respect for Mario. What he did that season was not only important for hockey, but it was important for Hodgkin's awareness. I was happy to finish second, happy to ride his coattails. It was special.
So it was a sensational year for you, obviously, but the Sabres went into the postseason on a sour note, losing their last seven regular-season games. Were you concerned?
It's funny ... this was back when parity wasn't prevalent, and teams were securing playoff spots in January. You knew the season would go in waves and phases, where you'd face a bunch of hot teams in a row, and then get hot yourselves. Things kind of peaked at that point, where we lost seven straight and Boston entered the playoffs on fire (16-2-0 over its final 18 games). And then we went on to sweep them.
It was a big deal for us, since it had been 10 years since the team had made it to the second round. We wanted to go a lot further, too. You see these eight seeds, Nashville, the Kings (from 2014) ... who would have thought these teams would compete for the Stanley Cup? It's all about momentum.
So then you face Montreal, and ... heartbreak again. Every game 4-3, the last three settled in OT. How much did that sting? Does it still sting?
When I look back ... you need to be lucky enough to stay healthy, and you have to be deep. And we were a deep team, for sure, but we had too many key guys get hurt at the same time. I had to have knee surgery after the season. Alex broke his ankle (in the Canadiens series). Dale was banged up. Grant had something wrong with his knee.
Everything has to come together at the right time - and (Patrick Roy) was on a roll. And who could have predicted that the Canadiens would win 10 straight overtime games and go on to win the Cup? That's just kind of the way it goes.
I owe so much to the game of hockey; I look back with fondness, not thinking about what could have been. I choose to focus on the positives of the game. Even after we retire, the game lives on through us. And we take that into everything we do in our life. It would have been great to win a Stanley Cup, but to look back on my career, I feel very fortunate.
Here was this kid born in St. Louis, playing on an outdoor rink in Kirkwood, Missouri, moving to Detroit when I was seven ... if you had told me then that there was an opportunity to play hockey, it was unheard of. I never thought I would be here talking to you about this incredible season I had 25 years ago.
Well said, Pat. So will we ever see a season like 1992-93 again?
It'll be hard. With the video and technology, with the speed and size, with the systems ... it's going to be very hard. I think 1992-93 was really the peak, where everything came together. Never say never, but it's highly unlikely.
James Bisson celebrates the 25th anniversary of the 1992-93 season with a look back at the most memorable moments of the greatest campaign in NHL history. This edition focuses on Buffalo Sabres superstar Pat LaFontaine, who reached a point plateau few others have ever visited:
You could easily forgive Pat LaFontaine for feeling like a bit of a forgotten man whenever the 1992-93 season is mentioned.
Between Mario Lemieux's astounding run to the scoring title, Teemu Selanne obliterating rookie scoring marks, and even LaFontaine's own teammate Alexander Mogilny scoring an otherworldly 76 goals, it can be easy to overlook the fact that LaFontaine became just the sixth player in history to record at least 148 points in a single season.
LaFontaine had earned a reputation as one of the league's most dangerous offensive threats well before arriving in Buffalo. The St. Louis native was selected third overall by the New York Islanders in the 1983 draft following a sensational junior career that saw him rack up 234 points in just 70 games with Verdun of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.
Expectations were high for an Islanders fan base that was struggling with a rebuild after seeing its team win four consecutive Stanley Cup titles in the late 1970s and early 1980s. And LaFontaine made good on his immense potential, recording back-to-back 40-goal seasons in his early 20s before erupting for career highs in goals (54) and points (105) in 1989-90.
But things didn't stay rosy for long. LaFontaine and the Islanders found themselves in a contract dispute following the 1991-92 season, and LaFontaine stayed home rather than report to the team. That spurred the Islanders to make one of the biggest trades in history, shipping him to Buffalo for a package that included former No. 1 overall pick Pierre Turgeon.
Blessed with a fresh start following a sour finish to his Long Island tenure, LaFontaine became an instant hit with the Sabres. He scored 46 goals and added 47 assists in just 57 games with his new team, guiding Buffalo to a playoff spot in the Adams Division. But the run was short-lived, as the Sabres fell in seven games to the rival Boston Bruins.
Hopes were high in Buffalo the following season - and why not? With a forward core featuring LaFontaine, veteran playmaker Dale Hawerchuk, towering scorer Dave Andreychuk, and speedy sniper Mogilny, the Sabres boasted an impressive attack. And LaFontaine wasted no time showcasing that in 1992-93, racking up 29 points in his first 10 games:
DATE
OPP
SCORE
G
A
P
Oct. 8
vs. QUE
L 5-4
1
3
4
Oct. 10
at HAR
W 5-2
0
2
2
Oct. 11
vs. MTL
W 8-2
1
0
1
Oct. 13
at PIT
L 6-5
0
2
2
Oct. 16
vs. TB
W 5-4 (OT)
1
1
2
Oct. 21
at WAS
L 6-4
1
1
2
Oct. 23
vs. CHI
W 4-1
1
2
3
Oct. 28
vs SJ
W 5-4
2
3
5
Oct. 30
at TOR
T 4-4
0
3
3
Oct. 21
vs. OTT
W 12-3
2
3
5
LaFontaine went on to finish October with 30 points in 11 contests, putting him on the same level as the league's top scorers. His November pace slowed considerably - he recorded just 17 points in 14 games for the month - but the 27-year-old caught fire again in December and January, piling up 45 points over 27 contests. And the Sabres (26-20-6) were benefiting greatly.
February saw a significant roster shakeup, as the Sabres dealt Andreychuk and goaltender Daren Puppa, along with a first-round pick, to the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for veteran netminder Grant Fuhr. The deal sent shockwaves through the division, providing the Sabres with some much-needed stability in goal but carving a major swath through their offense.
Yet, despite the loss of Andreychuk, LaFontaine continued chugging along, scoring eight goals and chipping in 14 assists across 10 February contests. By the beginning of March, he'd built up a double-digit lead in the scoring race over Lemieux, who'd been forced out of action for two months after being diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma in early January.
There wasn't much more LaFontaine could have done in March to improve his Art Ross chances; he scored 10 goals and added 18 assists in 15 games, but actually lost ground to Lemieux, who returned to amass an absurd 37 points over that span. And Le Magnifique saved his best for last, adding 19 points in April to LaFontaine's seven, winning the scoring title by 12.
But LaFontaine could hardly be disappointed about the end result: He set franchise records for assists (95) and points (148), while helping Mogilny establish a new team mark for goals. LaFontaine finished third in Hart Trophy voting - behind Lemieux and Doug Gilmour - while also placing third in Lady Byng voting and making the NHL's All-Star second team.
The Sabres, despite losing the final seven games of the regular season, saw a 12-point improvement over the previous campaign - and that earned them a rematch with the Bruins in Round 1. The result was quite different in 1993, as the Sabres swept their rivals out of the postseason behind a one-goal, six-assist performance from LaFontaine.
But that's as far as the Sabres would get, as they ran into a charmed Montreal Canadiens team that won four straight 4-3 decisions - the final three in overtime - to complete a second-round sweep. LaFontaine did his part with five points in the first three contests, but missed Game 4 with a knee injury and wouldn't get another chance to keep Buffalo's playoff hopes alive.
Concussions cut LaFontaine's career short; he played just 194 more games before being forced to call it quits at 33. But with 1,013 points over 865 regular-season contests, he was deservedly inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2003 - and he'll forever have a place in hockey annals after producing one of the greatest seasons in NHL history.
Spooner, who is a restricted free agent, is asking for $3.85 million from the Bruins, while the team is countering with $2 million, according to Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman.
The 25-year-old is coming off his second full season in the league during which he tallied 11 goals and 39 points in 78 games. Spooner is also coming off his second contract with the Bruins that saw him earn $1.9 million over two years.
Spooner and the Bruins are scheduled to go before a third-party arbitrator Wednesday.
The Nashville Predators signed restricted free-agent forward Austin Watson to a three-year contract with an annual average value of $1.1 million, the team announced Monday.
In his first full NHL season, Watson tallied 17 points, 99 penalty minutes, and 143 hits in 77 games while averaging 12:26 minutes of ice time per night.
The 25-year-old hasn't quite lived up to his first-round pick billing (he was chosen 18th overall in 2010), but he proved to be a valuable bottom-six forward during Nashville's run to the Stanley Cup Final, tallying nine points and 106 hits (!) in 22 postseason games.
Given that the 6-foot-4 Watson has three 20-goal seasons under his belt in the AHL, more offensive contributions at the NHL level could be right around the corner.
Ryan Johansen is the last remaining RFA in need of a new contract on David Poile's to-do list, and according to Cap Friendly, the team's longtime general manager has just under $14 million in cap room to play with.
