- CSN Philly: Simon Gagne retired from the NHL yesterday.
“Today, I want to thank my trainers and teammates,” Gagne said in a statement. “You inspired me to surpass myself. You made me understand that you need more than talent; it takes sacrifice and discipline and you need to work harder than your rivals. I also wish to thank my fans. Every evening, you energized me and inspired me to perform.”
- Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times: With Andrei Vasilevskiy already out for two to three months, the Lightning may now be without Kristers Gudlevskis. Gudlevskis suffered an upper body injury in their prospect tournament game against the Panthers. The injury is not expected to be serious. Ray Emery will attend camp on a tryout. Ben Bishop and Adam Wilcox are the only other goalies with NHL contracts.
- Randy Miller: Devils winger Reid Boucher has been sidelined indefinitely with a concussion.
“He will continue to work on a program under the observation of our medical staff and be held out of team activities until he is cleared,” Shero said in statement. “Reid will not be available to the media until he resumes practicing on the ice with the team.”
- Brendan Savage of MLive: Red Wings prospect Anthony Mantha suffered a cut that required “five or six stitches” on his hand, but is expected to be ready for the start of training camp.
- Mike Chambers of the Denver Post: The Avalanche have invited Jack Skille and Andrej Meszaros to training camp on a PTO.
- Chris Kuc of the Chicago Tribune: USA Hockey narrowed the 2018 World Junior Championship host finalists down to Buffalo, Pittsburgh and St. Louis. Chicago had been one of the five finalists. A decision is expected by the end of the year.
- Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun: The Senators are hoping to host a Heritage Classic against the Montreal Canadiens in 2017. The Senators are looking at options other than at Lansdowne. Ottawa is expected to host the Grey Cup (CFL) in 2017 as well, so one idea is to leave the temporary seats up.
“That’s a possibility,” said Leeder Tuesday. “There’s some other options. The league is reviewing some pop-up stadium concepts where you can put a stadium up anywhere.
“They do this now for concerts so can you do this now for an outdoor game? That would give some opportunities for different backdrops, whether it’s along the (Rideau) canal, Lebreton Flats or Parliament Hill, those are some options that are possibilities.”
They are looking for between 40,000 and 50,000 seats. 2017 will be the Senators 25th year in the league, the 100th anniversary of the NHL, and Canada’s 150th birthday.