Posts Tagged Andre Markov

Leighton out 8-10 … Some Habs Returning Soon … Tkachuk Retiring? Contract Extension for Markov?

Posted by Mark in NHL Injuries, NHL News on March 19th, 2010

  • Sam Carchidi of the Philadelphia Inquirer: The Flyers have lost #1 goalie, Michael Leighton for 8-10 weeks with a high ankle sprain. Brian Boucher is now the #1. I wonder if they are wishing they picked up another goalie at the trade deadline day. Then again, it is Philadelphia and they seem to prefer to have average to below average goaltending. It must be painful for Flyers fans that year-after-year they refuse to add a star goaltender, and that each year, goaltending is an issue.
  • Sean Gordon of the Globe and Mail: Though he won’t be ready to go in tomorrow night’s game against the Maple Leafs, Canadiens forward Mike Cammalleri is close to returning. Marc-Andre Bergeron could be back in the lineup tomorrow, and might play forward as coach Martin may not want to break up his defensive pairings. Tomas Plekanec missed his 2nd practice this week yesterday.
  • Jeremy Rutherford of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: The soon to be 38-year-old Keith Tkachuk may be leaning towards retiring after this season. He hasn’t made a final decision, but after the season, he expects to make the decision quickly. “I know that I can still play, but it’s been a long time … a lot of hard games, a lot of hard years. I’ll talk to my wife and talk to (Blues general manager Larry Pleau) and we’ll make a decision.”
  • Marc Antoine Godin of La Presse: Andre Markov is finishing up his 3rd year of a 4 year deal that pays him an average of $5.75 million, and GM Pierre Gauthier is interested in signing him to a contract extension before he becomes a UFA after next season. Markov could not sign a deal until after July 1, as contract extensions can only be signed in the last year of a contract.

    “Pierre (Gauthier) have advised me during a recent visit to Montreal, he wanted to have discussions about Markov,” said Don Meehan, the agent of the Russian player.

    “He advised me at that time that the deadline of the transaction and the good of the team were his immediate priorities. But once the situation had stabilized and he would have time to relax a little, he would like to see discussed.

    “He is really interested in keeping it within the team.”

    • Andy Strickland St. Louis Blues Blogger: ‘The Monster” of 2010 could be Finnish goalie, Jussi Rynnas. The 6′5″, 23-year-old goaltender has drawn interest from as many as 18 teams. Rynnas may not be a #1 just yet, but could be a 2 or 3 on some teams depth chart.

    Tim Wharnsby of CBC Sports: The Philadelphia Flyers are close to signing Colorado College right winger, Mike Testwuide. Testwuide scored 21 goals in 39 games this season. His shortlist of teams that he narrowed it down to were, the Flyers, Capitals, Rangers and Avalanche.

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    Panthers looking to move Horton? Too pricey for the Bruins? Cheechoo to Pittsburgh?

    Posted by Mark in NHL Injuries, NHL News, NHL Rumors on February 15th, 2010

  • Larry Brooks of the NY Post: The Florida Panthers are looking to trade Nathan Horton, but aren’t getting the return they’d like. Horton’s work ethic could one reason, and I’m sure with his solid play before for he got hurt increased the asking price.
  • John Glennon of the Tennessean: Predators GM David Poile met with Dan Hamhuis’s agent last week, but remain apart in salary. If they were to trade Hamhuis, they’d need to bring in another Dman. They also have the 2 UFA goalies, so 1 might be moved by the deadline.
  • Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal:
    • The Ducks are trying to move Ryan Whitney and his $4 million cap hit that goes for another 3 years.
    • Could the Kings send Alex Frolov to the Sabres for Craig Rivet? Boston and Montreal could be interested.
    • The Kings could trade a 2nd round pick for a scoring winger. Prospects Colten Tuebert and Tomas Hickey could also be moved.
  • Fluto Shinzawa of the Boston Globe: The Bruins could use a puck moving defenseman and a winger who can put the puck in the net. The asking prices have been too high for Chiarelli so far.
  • Steve Conroy of the Boston Herald: “The deals that are out there are complete horse (expletive) right now,” the GM said a couple of hours before Friday’s trade embargo for the Olympic break kicked in. “And that’s no fault of the sellers because there are only a few sellers and they’re asking for the moon and it’s not something I’m willing to give. While you have to be careful, you can be aggressive also, and I fashion myself and my staff as proactive when it comes to these things. By the same token, a deal for the sake of a deal is usually not the right deal to make.”
  • Tom Reed of the Columbus Dispatch: Even if the Columbus Blue Jackets trade Raffi Torres, he’d still be open to re-signing with them after July 1st. The Blue Jackets are looking for a 2nd round pick for Torres.
  • Dave Molinari of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: A reader writes in asking if the Penguins might bring in Jonathan Cheechoo. Molinari, doesn’t think so, and thinks that he’ll be stuck in the AHL for the remainder of the season due to his high salary.
  • Red Fisher of the Montreal Gazette: New Montreal Canadiens GM, Pierre Gauthier should name a team captain. If Andre Markov is interested, he would be the leading candidate.
  • Detroit News: Johan Franzen will replace teammate Tomas Holmstrom on Team Sweden.

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    Frustration in Fantasy Hockey

    Posted by Mark in NHL News on October 12th, 2009

    There are 2 things in fantasy hockey pools that can be so frustrating, injuries and shutouts. Long term injuries to key players, especially early on in the season, can be really frustrating.

    In the 1st week and half fantasy players have seen Andre Markov and Johan Franzen go on the shelf for up to 4 months. If you have both, you’re season may be over before it really got started.

    If you’ve done a ‘pick from a box’ type of pool and had one of them, your odds of winning have dramatically dropped. Any type of long term injuries in one of those pools where you can’t interchange players, I wish you luck.

    The latest player to be out, albeit for not as long Markov and Franzen, is Daniel Sedin of the Canucks, who’s gone for 4-6 weeks with a broken left foot.  Though he may be back in a month or so, it may take a little longer for him to get going after recovering from a broken foot.

    Getting back to why shutouts can be really frustrating. After seeing one of your players get seriously injured, having a backup goalie get a shutout while you have that teams starter, has to be the next most annoying thing in fantasy hockey. It’s not as bad for teams that have goalies that split time (which seems like plenty of NHL teams are doing so far), but when you goalie usually gets 60-70 starts in a season, it makes you want to throw you computer mouse across the room. Stephen Valiquette was the last goalie to do this, with a 3-0 shutout last night. Antti Niemi of the ‘Hawks and Mathieu Garon have also recorded shutouts. In all 3 cases, the teams #1 starter has yet to record a shutout.

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    Opening Night Observations

    Posted by Mark in NHL News on October 2nd, 2009

    Brian Burke’s makeover was in full effect right off the start with Colton Orr and Jay Rosehill getting into 1st period fights. Mike Komisarek also got into fight, but took 5 minor penalties, 2 of which resulted in a Montreal powerplay goal. Francois Beauchemin looked a little shaky.

    From the book of ‘Are You Kidding Me”, my fantasy hockey team just took a hit as the RDS is reporting that my #1 defensemen, Andre Markov, will be out 3-4 months with a torn tendon in his knee. He suffered the injury in the 3rd period after colliding with Carey Price. It was Price’s revenge on me for dropping him before the “Aki Bergala’s” won the Fantasy Hockey Championship last season.

    Dany Heatley had an unforgettable San Jose Sharks debut, he was a -3 in 21 minutes of play. His lazy coasting in the defensive end led to one goal. He also fanned on a pass in the slot with a wide open net.

    Nabokov and Luongo got off to shaky starts. Nabokov allowed 5 goals on 20 shots. Luongo allowed 4 goals on 22 shots. On the other side of things, Carey Price made 43 saves in a 4-3 OT victory, and Kiprusoff turned aside 39 shots.

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