On the St. Louis Blues and Vladimir Sobotka …
Jeremy Rutherford of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Vladimir Sobotka is at an impasse in negotiating out of his KHL contract and it could not allow him to join the St. Louis Blues at the start of this season. Sobotka’s agent, Petr Svoboda has been attempting to exercise an out clause in his deal with Avangard for five months. It’s believed that the KHL is requiring a fee for Sobotka to leave, and Sobotka hasn’t agreed to it yet.
“We’re still talking and we’ll see what’s going to happen during the World Cup,” Sobotka told ESPN.com. “After that, I think we’re going to be smarter. It’s been going on for five months and I’ve had enough of it. It’s my agent’s job to keep talking and we’ll see. I don’t want to think about it anymore.”
Blues GM Doug Armstrong said in August that Sobotka was planning on remaining in North America after the World Cup.
“It’s one of those ones where I understand everyone’s nervousness because he’s not here,” Armstrong said. “But he’s not going to be here until after the World Cup, so I think the questions are going to persist until he gets off the plane at Lambert (Airport) and comes into the (practice facility) or to Scottrade. When he does that, this will finally be behind us.”
On the New York Islanders and Ryan Strome …
Larry Brooks of the NY Post: Islanders RFA forward Ryan Strome has until Thursday to reach a deal with the New York Islanders if going by their internal policy. Charles Wang set up, and it’s still in place apparently, that if a player is not signed by the start of training camp, the Islanders will cut off negotiations. By the league’s policy, the deadline is December 1st to be eligible to play for the remaining part of the season.
Strome could sign an offer sheet after the Islanders cut off date and the Islanders could match it. Any offer sheet under $1,239,265 doesn’t have any compensation.
“There are too many unknown variables regarding a hypothetical situation such as an offer sheet to throw it under the umbrella of any team’s policy,” Snow said via email. “Therefore, if a scenario/opportunity such as this presents itself, we will deal with it on a case by case basis at the appropriate time.”