Fantasy Hockey News

It’s believed that goalie Antti Niemi will be signing with the San Jose Sharks as early as Thursday.

Niemi was Chicago’s man of the hour last season, helping the team to a Stanley Cup victory. But the Blackhawks walked away from their goalie after he was awarded $2.5 million as an arbitration award and it’s been a big question as to where Niemi was headed. It looks like we have our answer.

Sportsnet is reporting that the deal with the Sharks will be a one year contract worth around $2 million.

Niemi had a 26-7-4 record for the Hawks during the regular season and posted a 2.25 GAA. Considered one of the keys to the team’s playoff success, it was believed that the team would re-sign him within reason. But salary cap woes led to a stripping of the Blackhawks and Niemi was dumped along with other key playoff performers like Dustin Byfuglien.

For their part, the Blackhawks are now stuck with Cristobal Huet’s massive contract. They’ve also signed Marty Turco and have Hannu Toivonen waiting around on the farm.

Niemi would be a nice fit on the Sharks. He’ll probably serve as the team’s starter, with Antero Niittymäki as the back-up. With Evgeni Nabokov set to play for SKA St. Petersburg in the KHL, it could be a period of rebuilding in goal for the San Jose club. Niemi is as good a place as any to start that process out.

Posted by Jordan Richardson.

Edmonton Oilers goalie Nikolai Khabibulin has been sentenced to 30 days in prison. The sentencing came down on Tuesday in an Arizona courtroom.

The 30-day sentence is actually the minimum sentence the goaltender could have received.

As many know, Khabibulin was stopped last February in Arizona. He was speeding his his Ferrari and was found to have a blood alcohol level of twice the state’s legal limit. According to TSN, “After the blood test, he was cited for an extreme DUI with a blood-alcohol content at .164.”

Khabibulin has appealed the decision.

As far as the Oilers are concerned, their goalie will be there in time for training camp when it gets under way on the 17th of September.

“As far as any discussion of further discipline or actions taken - league, ourselves - obviously that all has to wait,” Steve Tambellini said. “Can he come to training camp at this point? Yes, he can.”

The Oilers signed Khabibulin to a four year deal in 2009. The contract is worth $15 million, but the goalie had to stop playing in November due to back problems. While the organization doesn’t think this incident off the ice will have any impact on his performance, there’s no telling what this kind of thing could do to a team’s morale.

Posted by Jordan Richardson.

Each season there are a number of potential milestones to be reached in the National Hockey League and the 2010-2011 season is no different. Hockey action couldn’t come soon enough, so to whet your respective whistles I’m going to start exploring some of the things you can look forward to when the puck drops.

Okay, milestones are up first.

We all remember Nicklas Lidstrom reaching 800 assists and 1,000 total points last season. And we certainly remember Martin Brodeur hitting his 1,000th game and becoming the first goalie in NHL history to pass 600 wins.

This season, there’s more milestones to consider. With over 50 players in line to reach some historic moments, the beginning of the next season in October is looking to be very exciting indeed.

Mark Recchi, Jarome Iginla and Joe Thornton are among the top players to keep an eye on this year. Recchi could become just the 13th player in league history to reach 1,500 points. He currently has 1,485 points so it wouldn’t take much to push him to the milestone. Iginla, for his part, is one of four players that could hit 1,000 points this season. Thornton also could break 1,000 this year and he could also top 700 assists. He currently sits just 66 helpers shy of the mark. If Joe scores 15 goals, he’ll top 300.

Alex Kovalev and Daniel Alfredsson are the other two players who could hit 1,000 points this year. Alfredsson could also top 400 goals, needing just 25 more to reach the goal.

Jason Arnott is looking at a pile of potential milestones. He should hit 900 points, could hit 400 goals, should hit 500 assists, and may well top out at 150 career power play goals as well. He’s also one game shy of reaching 1,100 career games played. Ray Whitney, Bryan McCabe and Ian Laperriere are also looking at the same marker this season.

A whole pile of players could reach 700 points this season. Marc Savard, Sergei Gonchar, Saku Koivu, Patrick Marleau, Cory Stillman, Martin St. Louis, Todd Bertuzzi, Shane Doan, Steve Sullivan, Chris Pronger, Michael Nylander, Andrew Brunette, and Ilya Kovalchuk could all hit the mark.

And believe it or not, Alex Ovechkin will suit up for his 400th career game this season. How time flies when you’re having fun, eh?

With 30 wins, Vancouver keeper Roberto Luongo will hit 300 career wins. Chris Osgood needs just four wins to nail down 400 wins, while Dwayne Roloson, Ryan Miller and Henrik Lundqvist could all reach 200 career wins.

Ron Wilson should reach 600 career coaching wins, as should Jacques Martin. Wilson will also coach through the 1,300 games milestone and Martin will hit 1,200 games. Other coaches hitting milestones include Marc Crawford (1,100 games coached) and Lindy Ruff (1,000 games coached and 500 wins).

So keep your eyes out for these milestones, kids. You never know when you could find yourself watching a game in which history is made.

Posted by Jordan Richardson.

After being diagnosed with post-concussion syndrome, veteran forward Paul Kariya will miss the upcoming season. The news has got to be heartbreaking for Kariya, but the territory is familiar.

Kariya missed six games last December and January after suffering a concussion. And back in 1998, he wasn’t able to suit up for Canada at the Winter Olympics due to a concussion.

This sort of announcement does appear to symbolize the end of the line for Kariya. He was and will be remembered as a classy player with a full command of the game he so dearly loved to play. An electrifying skater and a deadly sniper, Kariya’s talent was always exciting and always memorable.

While it may be too early to signal retirement, I don’t think it’s much of a long shot to suggest that Kariya could be making a formal announcement soon. At age 35, he could conceivably have more to give to the game of hockey. But the concussion problems are starting to pile up and he’s not the player he used to be.

Bowing out gracefully now wouldn’t be a bad decision. It would preserve his legacy in the game of hockey and would keep his memories intact where they need to be.

Posted by Jordan Richardson.

Yahoo!’s Dmitri Chesnokov, always a terrific source for Russian/NHL news, reports that the NHL and Ilya Kovalchuk’s agent are working within a 48-hour timeframe regarding a new contract.

Chesnokov reports that Kovy’s Russian agent, Yuri Nikolaev, set the deadline with the NHL and is saying that if a deal isn’t made within the timeframe, his player will play elsewhere. The KHL has to be at the top of the “elsewhere” list at this point.

A new framework of the deal, the one that was rejected by an arbitrator not long ago, was put forth by the Devils to the National Hockey League on Monday. The NHL again rejected the deal based on the length of the contract, leading to increased frustration between the Devils, Kovalchuk and nearly every other party involved.

Kovalchuk’s agent then took it upon himself to say that Kovalchuk had been in contact with SKA St. Petersburgh from the KHL. The nature of the discussions wasn’t mentioned, but it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to determine what the agent was implying.

Earlier in the summer, SKA St. Petersburgh offered Kovy a three year deal worth $42 million to sign with the club. League president Alexander Medvedev said that the deal was still on the table, so the option may be looking sharp for Kovalchuk at this point and time if the NHL keeps rejecting the deals with the Devils.

The KHL season fires up on September 8, so one would assume that something will be in place prior to that date if Kovalchuk winds up there. If he winds up still dealing with the Devils, this could drag out. But if the 48-hour deadline really sticks, we’ll have our answers very soon indeed.

Posted by Jordan Richardson.

Rene Fasel, president of the International Ice Hockey Federation, offered some insight into how relations between the National Hockey League and Europe might be working out during the second day of the World Hockey Summit in Toronto.

Fasel said that the European market didn’t just exist to provide talent for the NHL, knocking the idea of NHL expansion into Europe out before it even became a formal discussion.

“Try to come. Good luck. This is our territory and I will fight like hell and not allow anybody to come from abroad,” Fasel said. “I think in Europe, we are strong enough to do something on our own, and then have the competition between Europe and North America. I don’t think an NHL division in Europe would fly. If they have a lot of money to invest, they could try, but as long as I’m sitting in my chair, I would never allow it to happen.”

Now it’s widely known that the National Hockey League has been looking to Europe for expansion purposes, although there’s nothing clear on the immediate horizon as to that issue. It’s about as “back burner” as it gets, or so they say. There are plenty of domestic issues with running a 30 team league to consider first.

There’s also the lack of market in Europe for the NHL product. The rinks are the wrong size and travel costs are absurd, which pretty much shuts down the expansion topic on any level of common sense.

That said, there have to be plans for a brand in Europe emanating from the NHL at some point and time. After all, the NHL has designs on being THE dominant brand of hockey in the world and it simply can’t do that without heading to the well every so often. Plus there’d be a market for merchandise in Europe like you wouldn’t believe.

But then there’s the pushback from Fasel to play in to the discussion. Fasel’s insistence on Europe being “strong enough” to do something on their own makes good sense, especially with the rise of the KHL and other leagues across the continent. Could there actually be competition between Europe and North America?

Posted by Jordan Richardson.

According to ESPN, the National Hockey League has made an adjustment to its regular season tiebreaking system. On a slow hockey news day like today, it’s the perfect thing to discuss.

The change will go into effect for the upcoming 2010-2011 season.

The current system, prior to the upcoming change, had the first tiebreaker as total wins of any kind. The revision puts the first tiebreaker as a combination of regulation and overtime wins, excluding shootout wins.

The change was proposed by Columbus Blue Jackets GM Scott Howson at the general managers’ meeting in March. The board of governors and the competition committee both voted to approve the change for the upcoming season.

The idea behind the change is to give team play more leverage in deciding tiebreakers, thus taking the focus off of the individual “victories” in the shootout format.

Posted by Jordan Richardson.

Vincent Lecavalier will be undergoing minor arthroscopic procedure on his left knee Tuesday in Tampa Bay. The Lightning are saying that he should be back in action after three to four weeks of recovery time from the procedure.

He is fully expected to participate in the team’s training camp.

Lecavalier is a key component to Lightning GM Steve Yzerman’s rebuilding process, as he’s been surrounded by new players that should help boost his offensive production.

Last season, Lecavalier finished third on the team in scoring with 70 points (24 goals, 46 assists) in a full 82 games. The problem was that Vinnie finished second last on the team in plus-minus with a terrible -16.

Lecavalier is going into the second year of a monstrous 11-year contract in Tampa Bay. He was granted an extension on his contract in July of 2008 worth $85 million not including bonuses. The team is obviously looking for him to step up and lead the squad, but the Lightning have struggled as of late.

Tampa has missed the playoffs the last three seasons in a row and hasn’t done much in the post-season since wrapping up a Stanley Cup in 2004. Since then, it’s been nearly impossible to see that spark on the Lightning. Still, every year is a new start and Lecavalier is hoping that this upcoming season will provide new opportunities.

Some are wondering if the knee surgery offers a bit of an explanation as to his disappointing play during the last regular season, while other analysts are wondering why it took so long. With the summer almost over, Lecavalier seems to be “cutting it close” with the surgery’s timing.

Posted by Jordan Richardson.

The American Hockey League and the CBC television network have announced a one-year broadcasting deal that will see the network broadcast ten games during the upcoming 2010-2011 season.

The games are going to air on Sunday afternoons and will feature affiliates from the six Canadian NHL teams. The games will also be streamed live and available on demand on the CBC Sports website.

October 17 marks the first game for the broadcast schedule. The Toronto Marlies host the Binghamton Senators at 1 pm.

“We’re tremendously excited that CBC, with its distinguished excellence in hockey broadcasting, will be helping us celebrate our historic 75th anniversary this season,” said David Andrews, president and CEO of the American Hockey League.

The deal is tremendous news for those looking for a way to check out more hockey action. The AHL puts on a good show and the ten game schedule for the CBC is a nice start. If the ratings are good, we can probably look forward to more games making the broadcast schedule the following year. If the ratings are not so good, the CBC hasn’t committed beyond the one year. Sounds like a win-win.

While many may see the ten game schedule as not being enough, we have to realize that things have to start somewhere. The CBC isn’t suddenly going to open its doors to a full schedule when the audience isn’t proven yet. And they certainly aren’t going to gamble on other leagues like one commenter at the CBC website suggested when he or she “requested” coverage of the Swedish Elite League.

So again, it’s a good start. We can look forward to watching some AHL games on a reputable network that knows how to broadcast hockey. Here’s hoping this is just the beginning of exposing more Canadians to brands of hockey that go beyond the National Hockey League.

Posted by Jordan Richardson.

According to Forbes, Tom Hicks is on the verge of selling the Dallas Stars franchise. He’s also selling off his 50% stake in the American Airlines Center. The report says that Hicks will get about $300 million for his portion.

Creditors of Hicks Sports Group will get back about $200 million in addition to what they’ll get from the sale of the Texas Rangers.

No word yet on a potential buyer, but reports have leaned towards Mark Cuban as the guy with the opportunity. Cuban once wanted to buy the Pittsburgh Penguins, of course, and many have predicted that he put out feelers in terms of buying the Stars.

Hicks recently sold his interest in the Rangers baseball club and also owns half of English football club Liverpool. He bought the Stars for a cool $84 million in 1996.

There have been rumours about potential buyers for the Stars for a while, with Alberta oil tycoon Bill Gallacher once being tied to the purchase for $225 million. The reports were refuted after it came out in the Dallas News that the price tag suggested was “far too low.” It’s still possible that hockey fan Gallacher is still in the mix with a slightly raised bid. He does own the Portland Winter Hawks of the WHL, after all.

Vancouver businessman Tom Gaglardi is apparently also among the runners for Hicks’ Stars.

Posted by Jordan Richardson.