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2025-26 NHL Miscellaneous Thread

andyt said:
The Pens didn’t quality Vasily Ponomarev, if anyone is interested in reuniting the band. He spent last season with Omsk Avangard in the KHL.
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He managed a weak 25 points in 55 games in a league that notoriously has really poor goaltending. Methinks he might just need to stay in Europe.
 
jeffbear said:
He managed a weak 25 points in 55 games in a league that notoriously has really poor goaltending. Methinks he might just need to stay in Europe.
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I was kidding.

Don Levin screwed over a couple of drafts worth of players with his vanity project to recapture the “glory” of the IHL.
 
Yeah … he really did. And yet, the Canes are still doing business with him for reasons I frankly do not understand. I get that Dundon hates the people in Charlotte, because he has good reason to feel that way. That alone doesn’t justify whatever he's putting up with from those clowns in Chicago.
 
jeffbear said:
Yeah … he really did. And yet, the Canes are still doing business with him for reasons I frankly do not understand. I get that Dundon hates the people in Charlotte, because he has good reason to feel that way. That alone doesn’t justify whatever he's putting up with from those clowns in Chicago.
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The AHL made it clear they weren’t going to expand to 33 teams, and if Dundon couldn’t get an affiliation agreement anywhere else, Chicago was the only game in town. Don’t forget, Waddell said the Canes had a deal in place to buy an existing AHL team but whoever it was walked away at the last minute. So they essentially neutered Levin by taking away all operational decision making. The affiliation agreement ends after the 2026-27 season, so we’ll see if anything changes in the next year.

With Kahn out of the picture in Charlotte and the Checkers now owned by Zawyer Sports, the same group that has majority ownership in Greensboro, could a reunion be in the works?
 
TheBigKahuna said:
Predators sign Drury to a 5 year 4.5m AAV deal.
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Drury signed for less than what were paying Kotkieniem. Drury is the better player. But, if $4.5-$5 million per year is the going rate for a bottom 6 center, then perhaps it makes KK trade worthy… perhaps he becomes so sort of reclamation project. Is Rutherford still in Vancouver.
 
Dreger says that it appears that Ray Whitney is “diving into coaching” and expects him to be on Laviolette’s staff in LA.
 
andyt said:
The AHL made it clear they weren’t going to expand to 33 teams, and if Dundon couldn’t get an affiliation agreement anywhere else, Chicago was the only game in town. Don’t forget, Waddell said the Canes had a deal in place to buy an existing AHL team but whoever it was walked away at the last minute. So they essentially neutered Levin by taking away all operational decision making. The affiliation agreement ends after the 2026-27 season, so we’ll see if anything changes in the next year.

With Kahn out of the picture in Charlotte and the Checkers now owned by Zawyer Sports, the same group that has majority ownership in Greensboro, could a reunion be in the works?
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Maybe they re-visit Charlotte, I dunno. You could also up the ante in Chicago and make those creeps a buyout offer big enough to make them move on to menacing the Central League or whatever.
 
SlapShots said:
Drury signed for less than what were paying Kotkieniem. Drury is the better player. But, if $4.5-$5 million per year is the going rate for a bottom 6 center, then perhaps it makes KK trade worthy… perhaps he becomes so sort of reclamation project. Is Rutherford still in Vancouver.
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Rutherford is supposedly out of the decision making loop in Vancouver now that the draft is over. He’s no longer their President of Ops, but I think he’s still consulting for the owners. He’s still their alternate Governor. Not sure what that has to do with Kotkaniemi though. Rutherford wasn’t involved in that deal at all. KK would be a good fit in Vancouver though, as a bottom six center who has shown flashes of being a top six guy. And as noted, his $4.8 million AAV isn’t out of whack for other similar players on new deals.

At this point, i’m pretty sure Carolina would trade him for a 4th rounder (or less) if somebody would pay his full freight.
 
jeffbear said:
Not sure what that has to do with Kotkaniemi though. Rutherford wasn’t involved in that deal at all. KK would be a good fit in Vancouver though, as a bottom six center who has shown flashes of being a top six guy. And as noted, his $4.8 million AAV isn’t out of whack for other similar players on new deals.
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I was alluding to Rutherford’s ability to seek out and find reclamation projects.
 
The Habs traded Brendan Gallagher to Vancouver for future considerations and retained 50% of his cap hit. He’s going into the last year of his contract that carries a $6.5 million cap hit.
 
andyt said:
Vancouver sends Nils Hoglander to Nashville for a 2029 3rd rounder. He has 2 years left at $3 million AAV.
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Nashville finally got a real GM who immediately realized how slow and useless that bottom six had become. They have filled the rest of the league with useful bottom six guys from the early 2020s … Janko, Jeannot, Trenin, Olivier, Kunin, Sissons, Tolvanen, Novak
 
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