- Hockey Canada via twitter: Bob Nicholson on Nail Yakukpov’s request for a transfer card: “Hockey Canada cannot sign the international transfer card for Yakupov until the Sarnia Sting releases this player from his contract. If Sarnia advises Hockey Canada that it has released the player, Hockey Canada will sign his transfer card.”
- Dan Tencer via twitter: This may be looking like a “spiteful, petty move by a Sarnia Sting franchise with an already poor reputation. Beaulieu and Yakupov don’t get along. There is no way that Yakupov is heading back to Sarnia to play for Beaulieu. Sarnia needs to do the right thing and move on.
- Jeff Klein of the NY Times: Part the Boogaard family lawsuit alleges that the Wild and Rangers contributed to Derek’s death because doctors repeatedly prescribed painkillers and other drugs, even after his addiction was known. The union has 30 days to formally respond to the suit that is after $4.8 million in salary and $5 million in punitive damages.
“At numerous times during his professional hockey career, to cope with injuries and pain and simply to be able to play or sleep after games, Derek Boogaard was prescribed or given a multitude of narcotics and sleeping pills by both the team doctors, physicians, trainers and dentists of the New York Rangers and Minnesota Wild,” the lawsuit says.
The family’s lawyer may also attempt to show that Boogaard suffered brain damage from his role of a fighter.
- Chuck Gormley of CSN Washington: With the elite players signing contracts to play overseas, what about the 3rd and 4th liners who can’t find jobs? For the Capitals, Matt Hendricks ($800,000), Joey Crabb ($950,000), Jack Hillen ($650,000) and Wojtek Wolski ($600,000) will be UFAs after the season, and missing an entire season could threaten their chances of getting NHL jobs in 2013-14.
“That’s who we’re trying to help with the lockout,” said veteran winger Jason Chimera, who has two years and $3.5 million remaining on his deal with the Caps. “If the cap goes down, a lot of third- and fourth-line guys might be casualties.”
“The longer we’re locked out the more of a chance that guys will go play ,” Hendricks said. “For us to sit out and not play an entire season is crazy. We can’t afford to do that.”
“Obviously, if it goes a long time I’ll have to think about doing something else,” Beagle said. “When that time comes I’ll start thinking about that.”
- Matias Strozyk via twitter: Andrej Sekera has signed with Slovan.
- Steve Conroy of the Boston Herald: Bruins Brad Marchand on playing overseas,
“We’re entertaining the option, but I’m not sure,” Marchand said yesterday. “I don’t really want to go over to Europe, but at the same time, spots are limited and you want to be able to secure a spot before they’re all taken up.
“I’m definitely looking into it, but at the same time I’m locked in for a while now. I’m training hard and it’s nice to be here with the guys. And there are some opportunities to do things you can’t normally do. I love hunting, too, and it’s also an opportunity to do things like that.”
- Erik Erlendsson of the Tampa Tribune: Tampa’s informal workouts dropped from 20 to 17 players this week. Martin St. Louis and Steven Stamkos will probably wait until mid-October before deciding to go overseas or not.
“I probably won’t be thinking about anything until mid-October, depending on things,” he said. “I might go home in a couple of weeks, we’ll see. Everyone wants to play and that’s the frustrating part because (the NHLPA) feels like we have an offer on the table that is fair for both sides. And at the end of the day we just want to play hockey, so it’s tough right now.”