Nichols' Notes
/The Windsor Star’s Bob Duff reports that Michael Leighton and KHL expansion team HC Sochi have mutually agreed to void the contract he had signed with the team.
“I was with Sochi and got sick and wasn’t sure when I was going to be able to make it there,” Leighton, 33, explained. “They have the right to look for another goalie and I agreed that I didn’t know when I’d be able to get there, so we both agreed to terminate the contract.”
The most interesting part of Duff’s story, though, is Leighton’s thoughts on the current climate in that general region. Last year, the goaltender played for Ukraine’s Donbass Donetsk. The team is taking a one-year absence from the KHL because of all of the unrest currently there.
“Obviously you worry about things that go on over there,” Leighton said. “Hockey-wise, it’s just a business. You go over there, you play hockey and you don’t really hear about stuff that’s going on.
“I’m not a political guy. I don’t know what’s going on, besides what I watch on CNN and you don’t know how much of that to believe.
“When you’re playing there, we were at the hotel. We’d eat dinner as a team. You’d go to the rink and play hockey and then get on an airplane and fly to other cities.”
Leighton tells Duff that HC Sochi is still interested in his services and if the opportunity arose when he gets healthy, he’d have no issue going back to the KHL to play.
Fox 17 West Michigan's Steve Amorose caught up with Detroit Red Wings RFA Danny DeKeyser over the weekend.
“There won’t be any problems,” said DeKeyser about the negotiations. “It’ll be done before camp. So, no one needs to worry about that.”
Of the recent malarkey speculating that some free agents aren’t signing with the Red Wings because they’re not wanting to play for head coach Mike Babcock (see Babcock’s response), DeKeyser would have none of it.
“Yeah, I kind of heard those rumors as well. I don’t really know why those are out there or who put them out there, who said it. I think Mike is a great coach and he really makes guys better, especially younger players. He really pushes them and makes them better. So to be honest, I’m not really sure where that rumor came from.”
Winger Joel Ward was at the Washington Capitals’ off-season blood drive Saturday, and shared his thoughts on new head coach Barry Trotz. Ward also played for Trotz with the Nashville Predators.
“I never thought Barry was a defensive-minded guy,” offered Ward, via The Post's Alex Prewitt. “I just thought there was a lot of detail. You want to be good in your own end. I don’t think he’s, as people call him, a quote-unquote defensive-minded guy. I just think it was detail up and down the ice. We have to get out of our own zone a little better and be strong on our back end. I’m looking forward to guys obviously like [Alex Ovechkin], [Nicklas Backstrom], I’m sure that’s going to be a few new guys for him, fun for sure, more excitement and fun for us.”
Speaking of Barry Trotz, Prewitt also noted an observation from the bench boss on athletes and injury recovery time frames.
“Usually what I find, and just out of doing this for 17 years, doctors have a time frame and they’re very conservative time frames, but realistically, probably 90 percent of the time, the time frame is shortened," Trotz said. "Their time frames are for us mortals who aren’t athletes. These guys train, they get the best, their bodies are machines. They heal quicker. They’ve got more resources to do that, from trainers to rehab to all that. They seem to recover a lot quicker than the time frame.”
Chip Alexander of The News & Observer profiles new Carolina Hurricanes coach Bill Peters, who was part of Summerfest at PNC arena on Saturday. Good read, although some of the best tidbits came via Alexander's Twitter feed from the event.
Jordan Eberle phoned in to Sportsnet 960 a few days ago to promote his hockey school in Calgary, and the winger was asked if this will be the year the Edmonton Oilers finally fight for a playoff spot.
“You know what? I think we’ve been trying to say that for the last three years. It just hasn’t worked out. I really like what we did this summer. I think a lot of people would have said our back end was struggling last year. We went out and picked Nikitin up, Fayne, Keith Aulie. If you look, those guys are all probably over 6-4, so some big guys. We’ll be a tougher team to play against there. Not only that, but we added a little bit of grit and bigger guys on our front end. I mean, Pouliot, and Purcell for Gagner.
“I think we’re going to be a better team. Obviously, like I’ve always said the last couple of summers, the core guys – myself, Nuge, Hall; we really have to take it upon ourselves to take this team where we want it to go and that’s obviously to the playoffs. I think as you’ve seen the last few years, you’ve just got to make the playoffs. Anything can happen. I’m looking forward to it. Anytime you get into late July, early August, you really start getting the itch back to get back on the ice and get ready, so that’s how I feel right now.”
How does Eberle feel having his name mentioned in trade rumours?
“You don’t worry about that stuff. It’s part of the business. Obviously there’s very rare, if it happens any time, that a guy goes his whole career playing with one team. That being said, I know where management stands, I know where coaching stands. So I wasn’t really worried. But like I said, it’s part of it. You’ve got to deal with that stuff.
“It’s funny, with social media being such a big part of the game nowadays, you could have anyone spread a rumour and it spreads just like that. So you have to be able to handle that.”
James Reimer and the Toronto Maple Leafs avoided a Monday arbitration hearing by agreeing to a two-year, $4.6 million deal on Friday.
Nonis took the chance to clarify the trade situation with his No. 2 netminder.
“He never said: ‘Get me out of here,’ ” said GM Dave Nonis, via The Star's Kevin McGran. “What he did ask was for us to explore opportunities that would make sense for both sides. We did. I went back to him and said: ‘I don’t have something that I would feel comfortable doing and we prefer to sign you.’ We both felt him coming back was good for us and for him. He wouldn’t have signed a two-year-deal if he didn’t feel comfortable coming back to Toronto.”
Reimer, 26, will be an unrestricted free agent when his deal expires, whether he’s still with the Leafs by then or not. Jonathan Bernier’s two-year, $5.8 million deal has one year remaining on it. He’s less than two weeks away from his 26th birthday.
The Calgary Flames signed Sam Bennett to his entry-level contract on Friday, and with it came a host of cautionary statements from GM Brad Treliving. The team is planning on Bennett being returned to his junior team in the fall, although Treliving did leave the door cracked open for Bennett to force his way onto the NHL club out of camp.
Wherever the No. 4 overall pick from June’s draft spends the season in 2014-15, he has already made an incredibly favorable impression on the Flames GM.
Treliving spoke with Sportsnet 960’s Rob Kerr on Friday and there were a few quotes in particular which stood out. Kerr asked Treliving if he had learned something from the prospect camp about Bennett, and the rookie GM circled back to what drew him toward the Kingston Frontenacs centre initially.
“I don’t know if there’s anything different,” said Treliving. “I think more than anything, he’s validated a lot of our beliefs in him. This is just a driven young man. He’s a guy that his sole focus is to be in Calgary. He’s a guy that doesn’t take no for an answer very well, which is a great thing. I loved his ability to take in information. And there’s a lot of information in those development camps. Everything from nutrition to the off-ice training and all that – he was a sponge.
“It’s all about winning with Sam. Ultimately, when we went through the process of evaluating these players and you watch him on the ice and you’re evaluating the skill-set, a big part of what we want to build here is the character piece. The people that will take personal responsibility for wins and losses. And that’s Sam Bennett to a ‘T.’ This guy – it’s about wins. It’s about winning a championship. It’s about team success. Everybody talks about it. That’s part of this kid’s DNA.”
In a similar vein, Treliving offered this observation a few minutes later in the interview.
“Whether it’s a game or scrimmage in the middle of July or it’s a game in January – when the lights go on, this guy just competes. And you could see that at our camp. All of the sudden there’s a puck battle and he’s not really looking at the calendar to say it’s July 7, he wants to win the puck. To me, those are things that either you have that or you don’t have that.
“If I took anything out of the development camp – obviously he’s got tremendous skill, he can skate, he can think the game; but it’s that internal will that again stood out for me.”