On the first day of NHL free agency, a blockbuster trade stole the spotlight.
The Pittsburgh Penguins acquired high-scoring winger Phil Kessel from Toronto on Wednesday in the biggest move of the day, while a handful of prominent defenseman found new homes in free agency.
Mike Green signed a multiyear deal with Detroit, Andrej Sekera signed a US$33 million, six-year contract with Edmonton, Paul Martin inked a US$19.4 million, four-year deal with San Jose and Francois Beauchemin got a three-year deal with Colorado.
Photo: AP
Other notable players to sign with teams on a busy opening day of free agency were forward Michael Frolik, who got a US$21.5 million, five-year deal from Calgary; forward Brad Richards who left Chicago for Detroit; forward Matt Beleskey, who got a US$19 million, five-year deal from Boston; forward Blake Comeau, who signed a three-year deal with the Avalanche; and forward Daniel Winnik, who signed a two-year contract with Toronto.
A pair of players who helped Chicago win the Stanley Cup left as free agents, with Brad Richards signing a one-year deal in Detroit and Antoine Vermette going back to Arizona four months after being traded to the Blackhawks.
However, the biggest move was clearly the one that teamed up Kessel with former Most Valuable Players Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin in Pittsburgh. The Penguins sent forward prospect Kasperi Kapanen, forward Nick Spaling, defenseman Scott Harrington and a third-round pick next year to the Maple Leafs for Kessel, forward Tyler Briggs and defenseman Tim Erixon. Conditional draft picks are also involved.
Kessel has 247 goals and 273 assists in nine seasons between Boston and Toronto, including 25 goals and 36 assists for the Maple Leafs in 2014-2015.
“He was always the guy, he was a guy that was blamed when things weren’t going well, and he doesn’t have to be the guy here,” Pittsburgh general manager Jim Rutherford said. “We have a bunch of them, and so I believe that he’s going to fit in very well.”
Kessel’s presence will provide Crosby and Malkin with a capable scorer still in his prime. Injuries devastated Pittsburgh’s depth last season. The Penguins struggled to score goals for long stretches and fell to the New York Rangers in five games in the opening round of the NHL playoffs.
Green gives the Red Wings an offensive threat for their power play after posting 10 goals, 35 assists and 17 power-play points last season with Washington. Green is one of the most offensively skilled defensemen in the league and has registered 113 goals and 247 assists in 10 seasons with the Capitals.
Richards, who had 12 goals and 25 assists for Stanley Cup champion Chicago last season, also gives the Red Wings another scoring option.
“It’s a great day for the Red Wings today,” general manager Ken Holland said. “I think we’ve added two players today that provide some really important ingredients we were looking for.”
The Oilers and Sharks both filled voids on defense with their deals with Sekera and Martin. Sekera had three goals and 20 assists over 73 games with Carolina and Los Angeles last season.
Martin’s signing with San Jose comes a day after the Sharks acquired Martin Jones to be their starting goaltender as general manager Doug Wilson has made a strong play to fix a leaky defense that led to the club missing the playoffs for the first time since 2003.
Despite losing Richards and Brandon Saad, the Blackhawks were able to lock up one of the players they got in the seven-player deal that sent Saad to Columbus on Tuesday. Forward Artem Anisimov agreed to a US$22.75 million, five-year contract extension, beginning with the 2016-2017 season. He had seven goals and 20 assists in 52 games for the Blue Jackets last season.
Among the busier teams on Wednesday were the Nashville Predators, who re-signed forward Mike Ribeiro to a two-year, US$7 million contract, signed free agent defenseman Barret Jackman and forward Cody Hodgson and acquired forward Max Reinhart in a trade with Calgary for a conditional fourth-round draft pick.
In other news, Carolina officially bought out forward Alexander Semin’s contract. The Hurricanes owe Semin US$14 million over the next six years and he is now a free agent.
Vancouver also traded forward Zack Kassian and a fifth-round draft pick next year to Montreal for forward Brandon Prust.
After a busy weekend of goalie movement at the NHL draft, a handful of backups got deals. The Kings signed Jhonas Enroth to a US$1.25 million, one-year deal, Philadelphia signed Michal Neuvirth to a multiyear deal and Thomas Greiss got a two-year contract from the Islanders.
Calgary also kept Kari Ramo with a US$3.8 million, one-year contract.
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
The Minnesota Timberwolves, with so many promising performances spoiled by late mistakes fresh in their memory bank, sure timed this strong finish well. Jaden McDaniels scored a career playoff-high 30 points and spearheaded Minnesota’s stifling defense on an ailing Luka Doncic, and the Timberwolves beat the Los Angeles Lakers 116-104 to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference first-round series in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Friday night. “Jaden never looks tired. He looks like he could play 48 minutes,” said teammate Anthony Edwards, who had 29 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. Julius Randle added 22 points for the Wolves, who outscored
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
RSS