PITTSBURGH (AP)—The Pittsburgh Penguins signed left wing Brett Sterling to a two-way contract Saturday that will pay him $500,000 if he plays in the NHL next season.
The 26-year-old Sterling had two goals and two assists in 19 career games with the Atlanta Thrashers, who drafted him in the fifth round in 2003.
Sterling has played most of his career with Atlanta’s top farm club, Chicago of the AHL, scoring 144 goals and 263 points in 254 games.
PITTSBURGH (AP)—The Pittsburgh Penguins have signed former Tampa Bay forward Ryan Craig to a two-way contract that will pay him $500,000 if he plays in the NHL next season.
The 28-year-old Craig had 23 goals and 25 assists in 73 games last season with Norfolk, Tampa Bay’s top farm team. The 6-foot-2, 220-pound Craig has 32 goals and 31 assists in 184 NHL games.
After signing defensemen Paul Martin and Zbynek Michalek to a combined $45 million in contracts on the first day of NHL free agency Thursday, the Penguins are not expected to sign any higher-profile free agent forwards.
They have not re-signed forward Bill Guerin, who made $2 million last season and does not want to take a large pay cut for the second successive offseason.
UNIONDALE, N.Y. (AP)—The New York Islanders have agreed to terms with defensemen Mark Eaton and Milan Jurcina.
Eaton agreed to a two-year contract Friday after spending the past four seasons with the Pittsburgh Penguins. Jurcina receives a one-year deal after completing his fourth season with the Washington Capitals.
Eaton had three goals and 13 assists in 79 games for the Penguins last season. The 33-year-old defenseman was a member of the 2009 Stanley Cup champion Penguins.
The 23-year-old Jurcina started last season with the Capitals, was dealt to Columbus and then reacquired by Washington at the trade deadline. He had six goals and 30 assists in 211 games with the Capitals.
ARLINGTON, Va. (AP)—The Washington Capitals have signed free agent goaltender Dany Sabourin to a one-year contract.
Sabourin (SA’-boo-rihn) has bounced between the NHL and the American Hockey League during his 10-year professional career.
In 2009-10, he posted a 28-27 record and a 2.67 goals-against average in 56 appearances with the AHL’s Providence Bruins.
Sabourin played 43 games for the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2007-08 and 2008-09, going 16-17-3. He was chosen the AHL’s top goalie in 2005-06 with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
Jose Theodore, the Capitals’ starting goalie for much of 2009-10, is a free agent and is not expected to be retained. That leaves the Capitals with a pair of 22-year-olds, Semyon Varlamov and Michal Neuvirth, likely to get most of the starts.
NEWARK, N.J. (AP)—Lou Lamoriello had an answer for losing his best defenseman to free agency.
The New Jersey Devils president and general manager simply signed two veteran defenders and added a new backup goalie for show.
Hours after losing Paul Martin to the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Devils replaced him by signing veterans Henrik Tallinder and Anton Volchenkov to long-term contracts.
Tallinder got a four-year, $13.5 million contract, while Volchenkov got six years and $25.5 million.
“We’re just delighted,” Lamoriello said. “We’re going to be tougher to play in our end. They are two different types of players. Tallinder is a puck-moving defenseman and the other (Volchenkov), you know what he brings. He plays the role like Scott Stevens played it. We’re better on defense today than we were last year and I feel we can still get better.”
New Jersey also signed veteran Johan Hedberg to a one-year, $1.5 million contract to play behind No. 1 goalie Martin Brodeur.
After the opening day of free agency, Lamoriello said the Devils will continue to try to re-sign forward Ilya Kovalchuk.
“We’ll see,” Lamoriello said. “We’re still working on it.”
Lamoriello said the Devils still have money to spend.
“If we can get better we will,” Lamoriello said. “It’s not a case of having to do anything. Our first priority was getting our defense better and certainly making sure we had the right backup goaltender.”
All three moves came after Martin signed a five-year, $25 million contract with Atlantic Division-rival Pittsburgh. Martin had earned $4.5 million in the final injury-plagued season of his contract with New Jersey.
“These things happen,” Lamoriello said of losing Martin. “It was a tough year for Paul so you don’t look back.”
The 31-year-old Tallinder had four goals and 16 assists in 82 games last season with Buffalo. The stay-at-home defenseman has 20 career goals and 88 assists in seven seasons with the Sabres.
He is also a leader. He ranked second on the Sabres last season, averaging 20 minutes, 36 seconds in ice time. He also mentored Tyler Myers, the NHL’s rookie of the year last season.
Volchenkov, 28, is a tough defensive-minded defenseman, who has 16 goals and 78 assists in his NHL career. Known as the ‘A-Train,’ he spent the past seven seasons with the Ottawa Senators.
Hedberg went 21-16-6 with a 2.62 goals-against average with the Thrashers. He will replace Yann Danis.
“He played very well in Atlanta and we know a lot about him,” Lamoriello said. “We’re just delighted with him.”
GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP)—The Phoenix Coyotes have re-signed defenseman Derek Morris and signed left wing Ray Whitney but lost standout defenseman Zbynek Michalek to a lucrative deal with the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The Coyotes acquired Morris from the Boston Bruins in one of a flurry of deals by Phoenix at the March 4 trade deadline. The 31-year-old defenseman had played for Phoenix for five seasons before being traded to the New York Rangers in 2009. He was-re-signed to a four-year deal.
On the first day that free agents could sign with teams, Whitney, 38, was brought in on a two-year contract to bolster Phoenix’s sometimes sputtering offense. He had 21 goals and 37 assists with the Carolina Hurricanes last season. Whitney is an 18-year NHL veteran who had nine goals and six assists in Carolina’s postseason run to the Stanley Cup championship in 2005-06.
The Coyotes, still owned by the NHL, have a restricted budget and knew they would have a hard time keeping Michalek, who signed a $20 million, five-year contract with the Penguins. Michalek made $1.5 million with Phoenix last season.
The team also announced it had bought out the contract of center Petteri Nokelainen., who was acquired from the Anaheim Ducks, also on March 4.
Morris was acquired to add experience and leadership in the team’s run to the playoffs. He had a goal and three assists in the Coyotes’ seven playoff games. Morris has played in 869 NHL games with five teams.
Michalek, 27, spent five seasons with the Coyotes and was a big part of Phoenix’s strong defense. He came to the Coyotes in a trade with Minnesota in August 2005 and led the NHL in blocked shots in 2008-09. He played for the Czech Republic in the Vancouver Olympics.
NEW YORK (AP)—The names Ilya Kovalchuk, Dan Hamhuis and Evgeni Nabokov don’t roll off the tongues of American sports fans quite like those of LeBron, D-Wade, and Dirk.
Such is life in the world of the NHL, which is also about to embark on a free-agent frenzy of its own, starting Thursday.
The NBA has cornered the attention market for weeks—even years—leading up to its high-profile free-agent shopping season because some of the biggest players in the sport are available.
“You have a very special circumstance this free agency with basketball, and I don’t think that happens frequently when you have that special of a player,” New York Islanders general manager Garth Snow said. “Wait a second? Did I just tamper with the Cleveland Cavaliers? What if we announce that we signed LeBron James?”
While there are no Gretzkys or Lemieuxs, or even players of the caliber of Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin, to be had in the hockey landscape, that doesn’t mean there is a dearth of talent in this year’s group.
“The hard part is trying to figure out who the big guys are this year,” New York Rangers general manager Glen Sather said. “You can really look at a lot of guys and say, ‘They’re the big guy’ and somebody else is saying, ‘No, he’s not the big guy.’ It’s pretty wide open at this stage.”
But probably not as open as last year when the Chicago Blackhawks seemingly came out of nowhere to snag star forward Marian Hossa, with a 12-year, $62.8 million contract on the first day of free agency.
Vancouver re-signed twins Henrik and Daniel Sedin to matching five-year, $30.5-million deals, and the Rangers lured Marian Gaborik away from Minnesota with a five-year, $37.5 million pact.
All of that happened on July 1, 2009, and all three teams could claim that the moves paid off.
After two straight failed finals appearances with Pittsburgh and Detroit, Hossa meshed well with the Blackhawks’ core of young players and helped Chicago win the Stanley Cup for the first time since 1961.
Henrik Sedin put up an NHL-best 112 points and 83 assists for the Canucks and skated off with the Hart Trophy as league MVP. And while Gaborik and the Rangers fell one win short of reaching the playoffs, the high-flying forward shook off some injury woes and had 42 goals and 86 points.
“I don’t think there is a lot of depth anywhere because the free agents over the last couple of years have been getting signed,” New Jersey Devils general manager Lou Lamoriello said. “There is certainly quality players at all areas: goaltending, defense and forwards.
“If your needs are where there is a player who can help, it’s strong. If you don’t have the need where there is a player available, you look at it the other way. I think there are some excellent players out there.”
Kovalchuk headlines the class of this year’s unrestricted free agent forwards. He finished up last season with the Devils, who pried him away from the Atlanta Thrashers once it became clear that the high-flying Russian wouldn’t re-sign with the club that drafted him.
Kovalchuk will surely draw lots of attention, but his salary demands could severely limit his options. Only a handful of teams might be able to fit him under the salary cap. Despite prolific regular-season numbers throughout his career, Kovalchuk has won only one postseason game in eight NHL seasons— including two playoff appearances.
The 27-year-old Kovalchuk turned down a 12-year, $101 million contract offer from the Thrashers before he was sent to New Jersey. He finished with 41 goals and 85 points, but the Devils were eliminated in five games by Philadelphia in the first round of the playoffs.
Lamoriello said no progress had been made in negotiations Wednesday between the Devils and Kovalchuk and leading defenseman Paul Martin, who can also be unrestricted on Thursday. However, he added that New Jersey would still be interested in the pair once they reach the open market.
“I understand the process,” Lamoriello said. “We’ll have to just wait and see.”
Maxim Afinogenov, who posted 24 goals and 61 assists in his first season in Atlanta after nine in Buffalo, will also have suitors among teams looking to spend less than the Kovalchuk market.
Next season’s salary cap will be $59.4 million, up from $56.8 million. Teams must maintain a minimum payroll of $43.4 million.
Hamhuis, whose negotiating rights were traded twice in the past 10 days to teams hoping to get him signed before Thursday, is among a solid group of available defensemen.
The Pittsburgh Penguins were the last to have the exclusive negotiating window with Hamhuis, who spent six seasons with the Nashville Predators, but couldn’t make a deal with him or with their own veteran defenseman Sergei Gonchar before Thursday.
Throw in Martin and Ottawa’s stay-at-home defenseman Anton Volchenkov, and teams could bolster their blue lines in a hurry.
“I think there’s a shortage of centers and a shortage of wingers,” Boston Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli said. “I think there are a lot of defensemen. There seem to be a lot of goalies out there.”
Nabokov is the biggest name in that group, but he is nearly 35 and likely headed into the downside of his career. After Nabokov failed to get San Jose to the Stanley Cup finals during his 10 seasons there, Sharks general manager Doug Wilson decided it was time to cut the popular netminder loose.
The Sharks, however, provided the first big free agent moves by re-signing forwards Patrick Marleau and Joe Pavelski to four-year deals last week.
Where Nabokov eventually lands could begin the rush of goalie signings.
Most of that goalie attention could fall on Philadelphia, which remarkably reached the Stanley Cup finals using a combination of retread veteran goalies Michael Leighton and Brian Boucher as the No. 1 guy.
Leighton agreed to a two-year deal with the Flyers on Wednesday, but there is no guarantee that he will be given the top starting job—especially after he let in a questionable Stanley Cup-winning goal to Patrick Kane in overtime of Game 6.
Philadelphia could also look to add Nabokov, Dan Ellis or Marty Turco if the price is right for any of those veterans.
“A lot of guys have said that there isn’t the depth in a lot of areas, but if you look at the goaltenders there is a lot of free agent goaltenders,” Sather said.
AP Sports Writer Jimmy Golen in Boston contributed to this report.
LOS ANGELES (AP)—Jason Zucker’s first skates had wheels. The 3-year-old kid learned the fundamentals of hockey not on a pastoral Canadian pond, but inside a roller rink in the stifling heat of Las Vegas.
Zucker didn’t touch ice until he was 6, following his older brothers onto an air-conditioned hotel sheet.
Twelve years later, he pulled on a Minnesota Wild jersey Saturday as a second-round NHL draft selection—the first player ever drafted from Las Vegas, the sprawling desert gambling mecca that had exactly three ice rinks at his last count.
“I might be the first, but I won’t be the last,” Zucker said.
Although the NHL’s expansion into the Sun Belt over the past quarter-century has been partially blamed for the league’s financial woes and talent depletion, the first fruits of that move might have ripened during the two-day draft at Staples Center.
Americans were in remarkable demand during the weekend, starting with a record 11 U.S. citizens chosen in the first round. The 30 teams drafted 59 Americans, according to the NHL’s measures of nationality, just shy of the 62 U.S. players chosen in 2007.
And these young Americans aren’t just from Minnesota and Massachusetts, either.
“Hockey has really started changing,” said forward Andrew Yogan, the NHL’s first Florida born-and-trained draftee, chosen early in the fourth round by the New York Rangers. “I’m just excited to be the first one, and hopefully I’ll open up a couple of doors for the guys after me. There’s a lot of hockey talent in South Florida, and people don’t know it yet.”
The momentum from the impressive U.S. victory at the World Junior Championships in January extended into the draft, with a record-tying 21 Americans chosen in the first two rounds alone. They’re from New England and the Upper Midwest, but also from places like Scottsdale, Ariz., where Colorado seventh-rounder Luke Moffatt got his hockey start.
And fittingly for the first draft in Los Angeles, the first-round American choices at Staples Center included Pittsburgh Penguins selection Beau Bennett— the highest-drafted Californian in NHL history at No. 20—and Long Beach’s Emerson Etem, chosen by his near-hometown Anaheim Ducks at No. 29.
“There are pockets where hockey has caught on and been introduced to a whole new group of athletes,” said Jay Heinbuck, the Penguins’ director of amateur scouting. “California is a great, growing base, and you even see players from New Jersey or Maryland these days, from places that aren’t normally hockey pockets.”
Both of California’s blue-chip prospects surfed when they weren’t skating, yet Bennett and Etem still developed into elite teenage talents. Every NHL team has taken notice of the evolving game down south—particularly the clubs whose junior programs fostered this talent.
“When we started out here, we would only see players coming up in inline hockey,” said Kings Hall of Famer Luc Robitaille, who moved to Los Angeles in 1986. “Now, kids are on skates from a very young age, and they’re facing good competition from a very young age. In L.A., in San Jose and everywhere, they have almost everything in place to play hockey through their whole lives.”
Indeed, Yogan skated for the Florida Junior Panthers and had a Pavel Bure poster on his wall while growing up in Boca Raton before moving north as a teenager to play in the OHL. Defenseman R.J. Boyd, who was born in Sarasota and played in Fort Myers, was chosen by the Panthers in the seventh round.
Zucker was a stick boy for the IHL’s Las Vegas Thunder during that league’s heyday in the 1990s, and he spent the last few years with the Los Angeles Hockey Club and the U.S. national team. He’ll head to Denver University in the fall.
“West Coast hockey is getting on the map here,” Zucker said. “Not just the West Coast, but everywhere in the U.S. is on the rise.”
USA Hockey said 11 Americans had been selected in the first round, while the NHL only gave credit for 10, tying the number of Americans chosen in the first round in 2006 and 2007. Defenseman Cam Fowler, the Ducks’ pick at No. 12, was born in Windsor, Ont., but was raised and trained in the Detroit suburbs.
Semantics aside, the American first-round choices included an impressive number of high-caliber NHL prospects, including Jack Campbell to Dallas at No. 11 as the draft’s first goalie; defenseman Derek Forbort to Los Angeles at No. 15; left wing Austin Watson to Nashville at No. 18; and rugged defenseman Jarred Tinordi to Montreal at No. 22.
And then there’s Bennett, the Gardena native who attended high school in Cerritos, Calif., before playing juniors in Penticton, B.C. The speedy, skilled forward has a 20-year-old brother playing for Penticton’s rivals in the same league.
“I come from not the most well-known league, too, so it’s even more rewarding that people noticed me,” Bennett said. “Being in L.A. for the draft, being with my friends and family, it’s an amazing experience.”
Etem played for Medicine Hat in the bigger WHL, but grew up in Los Angeles’ inline hockey culture. He spends the offseasons making a daily trek by bus, train and skates from Long Beach to Venice to train with NHL fitness guru T.R. Goodman, whose workouts are credited with extending Chris Chelios’ career into his late 40s.
Bennett wasn’t expected to go ahead of Etem, who fell all the way to the bottom of the first round, where the Ducks grabbed him. Although he grew up 20 miles from the Honda Center, Etem has never attended a Ducks game.
“There’s a new wave of California skill,” Etem said. “I think it’s about the coaching being done here. There are big things going on. I’m just grateful to be a part of it.”
NEW YORK (AP)—The Pittsburgh Penguins will open a new arena, and the Chicago Blackhawks will unfurl a long-awaited championship banner in the first week of the 2010-11 NHL season.
The league said Tuesday the Blackhawks will mark their first Stanley Cup title since 1961 on Oct. 9 when they host Detroit, a fellow Original Six member.
Pittsburgh, the 2009 Cup winner, will play its first game in the CONSOL Energy Center two nights earlier on NHL opening night against defending Eastern Conference champion Philadelphia. The Penguins had played at Mellon Arena since joining the NHL in 1967.
On New Year’s Day, the Penguins host the Winter Classic against Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals at Heinz Field—home of the NFL’s Steelers.
For the fourth consecutive season, the NHL also will begin with games in Europe—this time with six teams. The Carolina Hurricanes will play two games against the Minnesota Wild in Helsinki, Finland; the Columbus Blue Jackets and San Jose Sharks will have a two-game set at Stockholm, Sweden; and the Boston Bruins and Phoenix Coyotes will play a pair in Prague, Czech Republic.
Those six games will be spread over the first four days of the season.
Once those clubs return to North America they will all play on Oct. 30 when 28 of the NHL’s 30 teams will be in action on the busiest day of the season. Only Vancouver and Edmonton will be off.
The Blackhawks will host the Philadelphia Flyers on Jan. 23 in the lone rematch of this year’s Stanley Cup finals. Just one week later, the NHL All-Star game will return after a one-year break because of the Vancouver Olympics. The Carolina Hurricanes will host the 58th edition of the midseason exhibition for the first time.
The regular season will end on April 10, and the Stanley Cup playoffs will begin three days later.
