The NHL isn't shut down these days, it just seems that way with much of the hockey world on vacation. But there is still some news, and as always, our views.
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Minnesota GM makes courtesy call on Marian Gaborik in Slovakia.
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| Teppo Numminen swallows his pride and decides to stay in Buffalo. (Getty Images) |
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Union boss to sound out players on re-opening CBA.
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NHLPA head Paul Kelly was at a union charity event over the weekend in Toronto and told some local reporters he'll be visiting each team this fall to get their take on things. Still it's hard to imagine the players wanting to opt out on the current collective bargaining agreement two years early, even if they have the right to do so. The players have done pretty well for themselves with this deal since the lockout. The salary cap was set at $39 million when play resumed, and today the salary floor is even higher than that at $40 million with the ceiling now at $56 million. But the cap levels are set as a percentage of all hockey-related revenues, and some in the union believe the definition of those revenues could be broadened to include expansion fees, which are now divided only by the owners. There are some other contentious issues for the union, including the handling of buyouts, but as Kelly noted to The Toronto Sun, "We're not anxious to re-visit what happened a few years ago." Then again, neither are the owners, some of whom would likely see their franchises destroyed by another stoppage. That gives the union more leverage than it had last time.
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Teppo Numminen re-signs with the Buffalo Sabres.
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And in the nothing-was-ever-personal category, we have this news. Numminen is going to be back with the Sabres because he has been given a clean bill of health after heart surgery last season, more important, because he has apparently gotten over the way the team treated him at the time. You might remember that Buffalo suspended Numminen without pay in training camp when his heart condition was diagnosed, claiming the player had failed to show up in proper condition. Numminen filed a grievance with the union for the lost part of his $2.6 million salary, although he did come back for last game of the season. Now at 40, he wants to continue what has been a distinguished and underrated 18-year NHL career. But there aren't very many jobs anymore for defensemen his age, and he has been in Buffalo since the lockout. So when the Sabres figured $1.1 million for the right amount to add some depth to their blue line and settled the grievance, Numminen held his nose and signed on. Hey, it's only business, right?
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Hurricanes offer Jeff O'Neill a tryout.
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This could be one of the real feel-good stories of the season if O'Neill makes it back to the NHL with the organization that drafted him. He sat out last year after two down seasons following the death of his brother, but O'Neill is only 32, so he's really young enough to do it. And he was among the league's better snipers not that long ago. O'Neill was actually a first-round pick in 1994, when the team was the Hartford Whalers, and still has more goals than any Hurricane since the team relocated to Carolina. But things fell apart after his brother died in a car accident in August 2005. The Hurricanes traded him back to his home town of Toronto a few weeks later, but O'Neill struggled on the ice for two seasons in a media pressure cooker, so he packed it in last season. Now he feels ready to attempt a comeback, but according, Hurricanes GM Jim Rutherford, the team would likely only sign him to a two-way contract and have him start in the minors. But the door is open for O'Neill.
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Joe Sakic still up in the air about retirement.
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That's actually good news for Avalanche fans because the closer training camp gets, the more likely playing fever hits the team's venerable captain. Sakic has been quiet all summer, but came out of hiding this week to promote his charity golf tournament on Denver's "104.3 The Fan" radio station and didn't have a definitive answer when the subject inevitably turned to his future. Not even after having the last three months to think about it. Sakic, who is 39, missed about half of last season because of a sports hernia injury and noted the expected concerns of a player his age during his radio interview, but made sure to note that he felt fully recovered from his injury and good enough to still fulfill a first-line role. Sounds like he's revving up to go.
