Lightning-Stars notes
Bryan Burns: Tampa Bay Lightning coach Jon Cooper on if defensemen Zach Bogosian and Luke Schenn were unfit to play last night or if it was a coach’s decision: “It’s hard for me to answer that question. I would say it was one and one.”
Joe Smith: Cooper on the lineup decisions to add Jan Rutta and Carter Verhaeghe: “To go more in decision making we’ve been with this group for a while we felt this group could fit the pace of play we needed and they did.”
Bryan Burns: Cooper added that Rutta has been “healthy for weeks” but the team was winning and he couldn’t switch the lineup: “Because things have been going well for us, and that’s the thing, there’s situations can dictate lineups and we felt after Game 1 this was a situation where he could excel.”
Chris Johnston: After taking a hit in the first period Nikita Kucherov left the bench for a bit. He was it was because his visor was cracked.
Matthew DeFranks: Dallas Stars forward Blake Comeau left last night’s game as he was unfit to return according to Stars PR.
An added bonus overage for the Blackhawks
Puck Pedia: Chicago Blackhawks forward Dominik Kubalik was named to the All-Rookie team which earned him another $212,500 in “A” Performance Bonuses.
The Blackhawk overage is now at $1,090,255. They have the option to split the bonus over two years or apply all of it to next year.
14 Buyout candidates
Luke Fox of Sportsnet: A look at 14 players who are buyout candidates this offseason. The buyout window opens on September 25th and runs through October 8th.
Karl Alzner – Montreal Canadiens – two years left at $4.625 million.
James Neal – Edmonton Oilers – three years at $5.75 million.
Henrik Lundqvist – New York Rangers – one-year at $8.5 million.
Olli Maatta – Chicago Blackhkaws – two-years at 4.08 million.
Marc-Andre Fleury – Vegas Golden Knights – two years at $7 million.
Loui Eriksson – Vancouver Canucks – two years at $6 million.
Sven Baertschi – Vancouver Canucks – one-year at $3.37 million.
Kyle Turris – Nashville Predators – four years at $6 million
Andrew Ladd – New York Islanders – three years at $5.5 million.
Justin Abdelkader – Detroit Red Wings – three years at $4.25 million.
Anton Stralman – Florida Panthers – two years at $5.5 million.
Kyle Okposo – Buffalo Sabres – three years at $6 million.
David Backes – Anaheim Ducks – one-year at $6 million.
John Moore – Boston Bruins – three years at $2.75 million.