Hello everyone,
Good morning Hockey fans, hope you are all enjoying things this summer. There is some more news in the hockey world that we want to share with you:
- The New York Islanders continue to be busy by signing Oliver Wahlstrom to a 1-year, two-way contract worth $874,125 in the NHL. Wahlstrom, who was selected 11th overall by the Islanders in the 2018 NHL Draft, played with both alongside Mathew Barzal and Josh Bailey mostly has scored 32 goals and 61 points in 152 games in the past 3 seasons.
- The Calgary Flames have announced that they will retire former goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff’s number 34 this coming season. Kiprusoff’s number will be raised to the Scotiabank Saddledome rafters on March 2 when Calgary is at home to face the Pittsburgh Penguins. Kiprusoff, played for 9 season NHL seasons with the Flames. he retired in 2013 and is still the franchise leader in wins (305), shutouts (41), goals-against average (2.46), save percentage (. 913) and games played by a goaltender (576) for the Calgary Flames. He has had a heck of a career and is currently living in Finland. He will be remembered as one of the best ever to play the net.
- The Arizona Coyotes have signed winger Matias Maccelli to a new 3-year, $10.275 million deal (with an AAV of $3.425 million). Maccelli, 22, put up 11 goals and 49 points in 64 games with the Coyotes this past season, after being called up from the AHL Tucson Roadrunners. He was also fourth in voting for the Calder Trophy. We see him being an integral part of the Coyotes future moving forward. The Coyotes also are terminating their contract with forward Alex Galchenyuk, after a hit-and-run incident in Scottsdale, and he reportedly made some violent threats to the police officers during the encounter. The report has shown that Galchenyuk was not in the right frame of mind and it seems that his actions have some grave consequences. He has struggled to find his footing in the NHL ever since he was drafted 3rd overall in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft by the Montreal Canadiens. Since then, he has played for several teams, having a hard time finding his foot and his scoring touch. We hope that he gets the right assistance and help that he needs.
- Evander Kane (Edmonton Oilers) has announced that he is stepping down from the Hockey Diversity Alliance, a group he co-founded in 2020 with former NHL player Akim Aliu with the goal of fighting and eradicating racism from hockey. In the post that he made, Kane noted that “after careful consideration, I will be stepping away from the Hockey Diversity Alliance (HDA). The Hockey Diversity Alliance was formed with its primary purpose to rid the game we all love of racism and inspire a new diverse generation of players and fans.” This is a big loss for the HDA, although they did note that he hasn’t been involved for a while as Kane dealt with his own personal matters, but it is still a big loss. We believe here at Two Guys that the game needs to grow and expand to all communities, as we believe Hockey should be for everyone.
- There continues to be activity with all teams working on building up their rosters and signing some depth pieces. There will be more to come and we will do our best to report the stories (Keep an eye out for Erik Karlsson 65, Matt Dumba and Vladimir Tarasenko, plus possibly some more signings.
Thoughts?
Pawel the ‘Cat’
