They can have him for all I care. If they want to deal with his diva act, good for them. “Oh, I love Pittsburgh, I want to come back!” Yeah, whatever.
I still can’t believe though that Max Talbot is a Flyer now. I actually cried when I heard the news. I don’t think Shero was serious about resigning him, and I figured he was going to leave…but Philadelphia? Oh Max, what a come down!
No matter, he always be a Penguin to me. (But the Flyers…yuck!)
In other news, we managed to resign Tyler Kennedy, which is fantastic. That was up in the air for awhile, but woohoo!
Detroit kept three of their own: Eaves, Miller, and Ericsson. The big defensive addition was Mike Commodore. Probably not the best, but the two they were looking at as of this morning were Jovanovski and Wisniewski and they went for well more than Detroit was going to pay or should pay for either of them. Overall it was far from the earth shattering news the local media were talking up, but not terrible moves. I certainly admire the Wings for sticking to their management style and not overpaying for players.
Hey, show some love for Alec Connell! He replaced Benedict after the Senators traded him to the Maroons and was the goalie when Ottawa won their last Cup in '27. He also holds the all-time record for the longest shutout streak, at 461:29.
'Course, the game was a lot different back then. Major expansion into the U.S. Canada’s paranoia that Americans are “stealing our game”. Soaring salaries. A labour dispute that affects the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
There’ve already been a few unveilings of new uniforms this offseason, and, almost uncannily, every new jersey has been terrible. Tampa Bay look like team Gatorade and are keeping their third jersey, which is a beautiful color but just looks so incredibly amateur with BOLTS splattered across the front, Nashville have got new colors but awful designs, Edmonton’s new uni isn’t too bad but the collar looks like shit, and Florida’s new sweater is a nice design but the colors on the shirt don’t match the colors on the Panther logo, which really annoys me for some reason. Los Angeles, incredibly, have decided in this day and age of 3D HD everything, to completely remove color from their uniforms, removing any and all traces of purple from their uniforms for the foreseeable future and going back to a black/white/silver scheme with a logo that looks like something out of one of those old stencil kits we used in grade 1 art class.
Still a bit to look forward too, though. Winnipeg is hopefully going to look sharp, and failing that, at least nostalgic. Toronto is apparently bringing in a dark (blue, obviously) version of their third jersey (with the veined leaf), which is sure to look stunning. Dallas are going to use a green third jersey this year, and Ottawa are ditching their horrid SENS jersey for a sharp barber pole design.
Not exactly the most exciting offseason so far as far as signings go, though, Vokoun and Richards being the biggest names. Huge thumbs down to the Hockey Hall of Fame for ignoring Pavel Bure, who deserves to be in there more than any of this year’s inductees.
I’m liking the moves the Sharks are making just as much as they’re shocking me. Heatly was a dissapointment, so now we have Havlat!? I’m almost worried we’ve become Dan Scheinder and the Redskins.
So what is going to become of Evgeni Nabokov? Is he going to continue to still sit on his ass? Is he still only wanting to go to Detroit?
What can the Islanders do with him? Al Montoya looked ok at the end of last year, DiPietro will have to get starts whenever he’s healthy.
The Vokun signing shows there are very few teams which are goalie starved.
I’d think a couple of likely places might end up being Tampa Bay, where I’m not sure I’d feel good with Roloson getting a year older. Also, how about Edmonton? Khabibulin still has a month long jail sentence awaiting him in Arizona unless he’s able to win his appeal.
I think he has to go through waivers again before he can get traded. Probably why the Isles haven’t tried to move him yet.
What a stupid situation. The Isles look like dicks for trying to force someone to play for them who clearly doesn’t want to. Nabokov looks like a dick for refusing to play for the team that picked him up, even though he didn’t want to go there.
The Islanders tolled the contract and let him play in the WCs, supposedly with a written agreement that he wouldn’t file a grievance with the NHLPA over the extension. As far as I understand it, they can trade him without having him have to clear waivers… but I think if he did sign that agreement then it’s all but assured he won’t return unless they trade him to a place he wants to go.
I disagree. I think it was the smartest thing the Islanders could have done. No risk, high reward move. At worst, he stays in Russia and they lose nothing. Otherwise they either get a pretty good goalie to help resolve their goaltending issues, or else they can flip him for assets.
It’s not dickish at all to legally and rightfully pick up a good player at a position of need at an excellent salary and then expect him to honor his contract. He knew the risk when he signed with Detroit and if he honestly thought 25+ other teams were going to pass on that contract then he’s not just a dick but a moron.
I don’t think Shero was serious about resigning him, and I figured he was going to leave…but Philadelphia? Oh Max, what a come down!
He replaced Benedict after the Senators traded him to the Maroons and was the goalie when Ottawa won their last Cup in '27. He also holds the all-time record for the longest shutout streak, at 461:29.