Nashville Predators News & Notes
Colton Sissons, Rocco Grimaldi file for salary arbitration | On the Forecheck
You know what? Good for them. Get paid, folks.
Other News & Notes
Melnyk dismisses ‘flippant’ apology from Lisa MacLeod for profane tirade | Ottawa Citizen
It’s really amazing how unlikeable everyone involved in this saga is, but, to sum up, an Ontario elected official (!) cussed out Eugene Melnyk at a Rolling Stones concert (!!) and Melnyk then wrote an angry letter (!!!) to the head of government in Ontario (!!!!) who ordered the official to call Melnyk to apologize, and instead she made a stupid joke (!!!!!).
Also, she tweeted in self-defense describing the string of profanities as “feedback”, which is probably the most sympathetic thing about this entire story.
NHL Free agency: Most long-term contracts will end in trade or buyout | ProHockeyTalk
I knew long-term contracts were bad, but I hadn’t realized just how badly most of them end. The odds of players finishing a long UFA contract with the team that signed them are surprisingly bad–and that’s not even getting into players who do keep playing for that team but are no longer worth even close to what they’re making. The ProHockeyTalk folks are optimistic about Artemi Panarin and cautiously not pessimistic about Matt Duchene, but other than that, a lot of people who just signed big contracts…
Well, we’ll see how it looks after the lockout.
Grading eight 2018 UFA signings with one year of hindsight | Sportsnet.ca
Speaking of UFA signings, Sportsnet takes a look back at 2018’s big deals. Most of them worked out pretty well, but the exception is familiar to all of us (I’ll save you a click if you want–it’s James Neal). I’m with Rachel and Hayley in thinking Neal was unlucky last year, but I don’t think he’s ever going to be worth that contract again. Oof.
NWHL Suing Buffalo Beauts Hockey | The Victory Press
This is, I guess, the hazard of allowing one (but only one) of the teams in your league to be privately-run, when the league itself is in turmoil. It’ll be a blow to the NWHL if they’re not allowed to use the Beauts branding–those were great uniforms and the team was getting some name recognition in Buffalo, including several instances of Sabres players wearing Beauts merch. If they lose their suit, they–and the Buffalo team–will have to start from scratch, and possibly without the NHL cross-promotion. There’s a story at The Ice Garden with additional analysis here.
Binnington, Trouba, and Heinen among 40 players to file for salary arbitration | ProHockeyTalk
The Blues trying to low-ball Jordan Binnington is an interesting situation. I’m also curious about what’s up with Jacob Trouba’s contract, now that he’s out of Winnipeg–the Jets had a rough time signing him last time, but he was rumored to be unhappy there. It’ll be interesting to see what the Rangers sign him to.
Penguins sign coach Mike Sullivan to four-year contract extension | ProHockeyTalk
I haven’t watched many Penguins games the last couple of years, but I do wonder how many of their recent struggles are due to, you know, the inexorable passage of time and the aging of Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, and how many are actually due to Sullivan’s coaching. Anyway, it sounds like the team has come down firmly in favor of the coach, so we’ll see how that goes.
Origins: How Hayley Wickenheiser changed the game | The Ice Garden
Hayley Wickenheiser doesn’t feel like a real person. It’s not just all the medals (all the medals, seriously, just all of them) that she won with Hockey Canada–she also made the Canadian Olympic softball team, because I guess that’s what you do when you’re just so stupid good at hockey you need to find something else to do with your life too. And now med school? I mean, come on.