Latest on Derek Stepan, Nick Foligno, Kevin Shattenkirk, Nick Bjugstad and more in your Sunday NHL rumor roundup. Updates on Stepan, Foligno, Shattenkirk, Vanek, Bjugstad and more. OTTAWA SUN: Bruce Garrioch reports Calgary Flames GM Brad Treliving, who has the sixth overall pick in the upcoming NHL draft, wants to move up into the top […]
Pavel Datsyuk returning to Russia, profile of Auston Matthews & more in this morning’s collection of NHL headlines. THE DETROIT NEWS: Red Wings center Pavel Datsyuk made it official by announcing he will be returning to Russia next season to finish his playing career. He’s making this move to be closer to his teenage daughter. […]
The team that selects Jesse Puljujarvi at the NHL Entry Draft will have to wait until at least training camp to see him on the ice.
The highly touted Finnish forward, who's expected to be plucked as high as third overall, will not skate in development camps this summer following minor knee surgery to repair an injury suffered at the World Under-18 tournament in April.
This according to Aaron Portzline of the Columbus Post Dispatch, who adds Puljujarvi vows to be ready for the regular season.
The Blue Jackets, of course, possess the third pick, and would likely target Puljujarvi if they intend to use it amid reports of aggressive trade offers.
Puljujarvi was limited to upper-body workouts at the draft combine as a result of the injury.
You're never too old to live out a lifelong dream.
Mike "Doc" Emrick will get to fulfill one of his this summer. The legendary NHL announcer will step behind the microphone at PNC Park to call the first baseball game of his life when his beloved Pittsburgh Pirates host the Chicago Cubs on July 8. He'll work the MLB Network telecast of the game alongside fellow broadcasting legend Bob Costas.
The 69-year-old has called NHL hockey since 1982, and has become the voice of the sport for many in the United States. His passion for baseball, and specifically the Pirates, runs deep. A fan of the team since his childhood, Emrick had a dry run announcing Pirates baseball earlier this year while guesting on some of their spring training broadcasts in Florida.
Costas was the one who suggested Emrick join him in the booth, and he's expecting the long-time hockey voice to have little trouble adjusting his style to the slower pace of baseball.
"No matter how great a guy is, he'll be better on his 10th game than his first," Costas told Richard Sandomir of the New York Times. "But he's a lifelong baseball fan and follows the Pirates so closely, he’s not going to be asking, 'Which one is Andrew McCutchen?' And he's an obsessive preparer."
While Emrick will assuredly have a blast in the booth, he's tempering expectations ahead of his baseball debut.
"I just want to make sure that what I do is at least at MLB Network level - maybe the bottom of the bar they set, but I want to be halfway professional," he said.
"I don't have a home run call. Whatever happens, happens."
If the Athletics ownership had its way, the Sharks wouldn't have had to travel all the way around the East Bay to visit the team, as the A's have been attempting to move to San Jose for several years.
General manager John Chayka sent a fifth-round pick to the Dallas Stars for the soon-to-be unrestricted free agent's negotiating rights, and the club plans to make the most of the opportunity to sign Goligoski to a new deal.
Having traded for his rights on Thursday, the Arizona Coyotes are going to host pending UFA blueliner Alex Goligoski and his wife, Amanda, on Monday and Tuesday, hoping to woo and sell him on the merits of their market and improving squad.
Goligoski, 30, recorded five goals and 32 assists in 82 games for the Stars in 2015-16.
The Coyotes, meanwhile, have over $18 million to spend just to get to the salary cap floor.
On the Fly, theScore's NHL roundtable series, continues. In this edition, editors Ian McLaren and Navin Vaswani say goodbye to Pavel Datsyuk.
McLaren: It's probably not the way Datsyuk nor the Detroit Red Wings wanted their relationship to end, but the dynamic Russian center is heading home with a year remaining on his NHL contract and a resume that earns him the distinction of being one of the greatest two-way players in the history of the game.
The "Magic Man" nickname was entirely appropriate for a player whose ability to handle, pass, shoot, and track the puck was essentially unmatched. When he wasn't putting on a show in the offensive zone (averaging 0.96 points per game for his career), he was racing back to the defensive end to take the puck right back, making him a three-time winner of the Selke Trophy as the league's best defensive forward. And he did it with style and grace, winning four Lady Byng trophies to boot.
Datsyuk also helped bring two Stanley Cups and three Conference championships to Hockeytown, playing a small role as a rookie in 2002, while recording 23 points in 22 playoff games in 2008.
In short, Datstyuk has been one of the most exciting players to watch in recent memory, bringing fans out of their seats just as easily for a back-check steal as a "How did he do that?!" goal or assist. He will be missed, but no one should fault him for wanting to be closer to his family.
Vaswani: Datsyuk made his debut in the iconic red and white on Oct. 4, 2001. Almost 15 years later, he's going home to Mother Russia. Time flies.
A month shy of 38, it's time, and I can't begrudge him. No one can. He gave the Red Wings and the NHL the best years of his life, and while he was paid handsomely to play the game he loves away from home, those years came at the expense of his family. In the end, there's something right about Datsyuk announcing his intention to be closer to his teenage daughter the afternoon before Father's Day.
To me, Datsyuk was the Red Wings. Quietly great. Consistent. Forever competitive. He also personified the beauty that is Russian hockey, combining skill, grace, poise, incredible hockey IQ, and the ability to make the difficult look so damn easy in a way only few Russian players can.
This is how I'll remember Pavel Datsyuk:
Injuries robbed us from seeing Datsyuk on the ice in recent years. The last time he played 70 games in a season was in 2011-12. But when he was out there, he was always one of the better players on the sheet. The magic never faded.
Datsyuk did what he came over to do. He put on a show, he spent his entire career with one team, and he won. He leaves with his name forever inscribed on the Stanley Cup.
"We want to get a few more (draft) picks," Murray said. "This team is at a certain point and time right now and the opportunities are here to have some success, but you have to start stockpiling again, building up your assets.
"I've got to convince our boys to make some moves and get some draft picks, so when that time comes to turn over this team, let's not go down ... you can go down and have five years when you're drafting in the top five or six, but I don't want to do it and I don't think this market wants us to do it."
In other words, Murray is well aware his club can reasonably contend for a Stanley Cup while built around the likes Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry for only so long, so he's trying to get ahead of the game in terms of building a consistent winner.
Ahead of the 2016 NHL Draft, the Ducks hold only five picks, according to General Fanager.
More in the present, Murray is also intent on adding a top-six, left-shooting winger to the mix.
"It's something we've been missing," he said. "Even bringing in David Perron to play left wing, he was still a right-hand shot. We could use a really good left-hand shot. That's very high on our priority list."
The Ducks, of course, already made a big change in swapping Bruce Boudreau for Randy Carlyle behind the bench.
"We are very proud to name our AHL affiliate the Tucson Roadrunners," said LeBlanc. "The Tucson Roadrunners will build on the great traditions of hockey in Arizona dating back to 1967.
"Roadrunners was the overwhelming fan favorite during our 'Name the Team' contest, and we thank the thousands of fans who helped us select a great name that creates a strong connection to the City of Tucson, reflects our state pride, and extends the reach of the Coyotes brand."
The Roadrunners name dates back to 1967, when the Phoenix Roadrunners of the Western Hockey League (WHL) became Arizona's first professional sports team. The WHL disbanded in 1974, and the Roadrunners became a part of the World Hockey Association (WHA), and subsequently the Pacific Hockey League (PHL), until 1979.
A decade later, the Roadrunners were back as part of the International Hockey League (IHL) and remained until 1997. The Roadrunners then returned to Phoenix in 2005 as a member of the ECHL until 2009.
The Tucson Roadrunners will begin the 2016-17 AHL season in October.
