Posts Tagged Patrick Wiercioch

Blackhawks injury and line updates … Gagne expects to play … Starting goalies … Weircioch makes NHL debut

Posted by Mark Easson in NHL Injuries, NHL News on March 22nd, 2011

  • Adam Jahns via twitter: Blackhawks injury updates: Brian Campbell could go tomorrow. Patrick Sharp is out for 3 weeks max. No progress for David Bolland.
  • Ian Mendes via twitter: Curtis McElhinney will start in net for the Senators. Milan Michalek won’t be in the lineup. Patrick Weircioch will make his NHL debut tonight.

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Changes to Senators Defense for Next Year … Short List for Lightning GM … Coyotes and Avalanche Off-Season

Posted by Mark Easson in NHL Free Agents, NHL News, NHL Rumors on April 29th, 2010

  • Don Brennan of the Ottawa Sun: Some big changes to the Senators defense could be coming this off-season. The Sens may not be willing to give Anton Volchenkov the $5 million a year he might get on the open market. Trade deadline acquisition, Andy Sutton, is 35-years-old and made $3.5 million last season, and will be looking for one more good contract before retirement. GM Bryan Murray thinks that prospects Patrick Wiercioch and Jared Cowen could be ready for the jump to the NHL next season. Other potential defenseman free agents that might be interested in playing for the Senators at a reasonable price are; Brian Pothier (former Sen), Sean O’Donnell (hometown), Shane Hnidy (former Sen), Zbynek Michalek (Milan’s brother), Kurtis Foster (lived close to Ottawa). On the forward side of things, they might look to re-sign Matt Cullen. They might have to turn to a trade to bring in some scoring if they are able to get some scoring from the free agent market.
  • Matt Paulson (AP) in the USA Today: The main off-season issue for the Phoenix Coyotes will be to find an owner once again. On the free agent side of things, which involves half their defensive corps, as well as forwards Matthew Lombardi and Lee Stempniak. Zbynek Michalek could be costly to keep around.
  • Darren Dreger of TSN: Tampa Bay Lightning owner Jeffrey Vinik has a short list of potential GMs he likes, Dave Nonis, Doug Risebrough, and Steve Yzerman. It is rumored that the Red Wings have given the Lightning permission to speak with Yzerman. Vinik said before that he wanted to have a CEO in place before a GM was hired. Seattle Seahawks CEO, Tod Leiweke, has said previously he’s not a candidate, though some believe the details are being finalized for him to be named CEO.
  • Adrian Dater of the Denver Post: The Colorado Avalanche need to be bigger and faster along the blueline next season. Anyone of Kevin Shattenkirk, Colby Cohen, and Cameron Gaunce have a shot at making the team next fall. Chris Stewart and Peter Mueller will be looking for raises, both are coming off their entry level deals. The Avalanche do have the cap room to investigate adding a big name, but have shown lately that they may stick to rebuilding from in-house.
  • Helene Elliot of the LA Times: LA Kings coach Terry Murray would ‘absolutely’ like to Alexander Frolov back next year. It will probably come down to money, as Frolov is looking for a big deal, reportedly in the $5 million range.

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Coyotes back to Winnipeg? 2009 Draft picks to join Senators … Duncan Keith has bad Skates

Posted by Mark Easson in NHL Free Agents, NHL News, NHL Rumors on March 30th, 2010

  • Andrew Willis of the Globe and Mail: Winnipeg entrepreneur Mark Chipman (who co-owns the 15,000 seat arena) and Toronto billionaire David Thomson are working on bringing the NHL back to Winnipeg. Rumors out of Phoenix yesterday were that they were getting close to doing this, but that may not be the case. Rumors that the Coyotes will be changing to the Jets have been around for over a month, but are being shot down by the league. Bill Daly says the NHL has no plans on moving the Coyotes to Winnipeg or to any other city. The NHL still wants to find a buyer that wants to keep the team in Phoenix. More will be known about Jerry Reinsdorf`s intensions and Ice Edge Holdings by Thursday, as that is the date the city of Glendale set for a lease to be settled.
  • Allen Panzeri of the Ottawa Citizen: 2009 1st round pick Jared Cowen will join the Ottawa Senators if his Junior club is eliminated from the playoffs, but it`s doubtful he`ll play a game. They are also close to signing 2009 2nd round pick, U of Denver defenseman Patrick Wiercioch, who`ll also join the team but probably not play. If either plays a game, they`ll burn a year on their entry level contracts.
  • Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News: One UFA who might consider retiring after the season is Stars winger Jere Lehtinen. The 37-year-old will wait until the summer to decide if he wants to come back. The Stars would like to have him back. This season he made $1.5 million base with up to $1 million in bonuses, which he’ll make most of.
  • Tim Sassone of the Daily Herald: Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Duncan Keith was on fire for most of the season, but has struggled recently, going a minus 7 in the last 13 games. One of the reasons for his struggles has been that he hasn’t been comfortable in his skates. “I like my skates to fit right and to feel good,” Keith said. “When you feel good out there, you play good. It’s been a while since I had a good pair. “They’re just not sending me good pairs of skates, there’s not much more to say. Every hockey player likes his equipment to feel good and my skating is my biggest asset. When my skates are feeling good and fit right and are how I like them, then I skate how I want to skate.” Keith says he doesn’t want to make a big deal of the skate issue. If you don’t want to make a big deal out it Duncan, why did you bring it up to the media then?
  • Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal: The Blue Jackets will most likely be looking for a new coach in the off-season, and early candidates could be former Oilers coach Craig MacTavish, Anaheim AHL coach Kevin Dineen, and Predators assistant coach Brent Peterson.

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    Some Players that Could be Moved … Senators looking for Dman Rental

    Posted by Mark Easson in NHL Rumors on February 22nd, 2010

  • Jeff Gordon of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: The Canadiens are looking to remake their roster. Tomas Vokoun, David Booth and Nathan Horton could draw some interest. The Blue Jackets are looking to move Raffi Torres, Jan Hejda, and Milan Jurcina. The Flyers, Capitals, and Blackhawks could upgrade their goaltending. The Penguins could be interested in Ray Whitney and/or Blues Dman, Barret Jackman.
  • Ken Warren of the Ottawa Citizen: Senators GM, Bryan Murray will be looking to add a rental defenseman. Some of their options could be Pavel Kubina, Dennis Seidenberg, Jordan Leopold, Dan Hamhuis or Brendan Bell. The Sens are still trying to sign Anton Volchenkov to a contract extension, but it might cost them Mike Komisarek dollars (5 years, $22.5 million). The Sens think that 2009 1st round pick, Jared Cowen, could be ready for the NHL next season. 2008 2nd round pick, Patrick Wiercioch, could leave the University of Denver early.

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