New Year, New News, Good Times
There are a lot of great hockey tidbits floating around out there, this weekend.
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Larry Brooks reports that the CBA has a provision that allows incentives to come off of the cap, once they can no longer be met (login info.). So if a player is due $500,000 for playing 50 games, once he can’t make 50 games, that money is taken off of the cap. I found that pretty interesting.
Tim Panaccio says players on the NHL’s competition committee want to make sure refs continue to call obstruction (login info.). Anecdotally, it seems to depend on who’s obstructing. I’ve watched a lot of Ranger hockey this season and I can’t think of a game where I haven’t seen Jaromir Jagr with his stick around somebody’s midsection. He got whistled for that the first few games of the season, but now it’s like the rule doesn’t apply to him. Watching bits and pieces of Caps and Penguins games, I’ve noticed Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin often get the same consideration. So in the new NHL, you can’t obstruct unless you’ve got about 20 goals under your belt. Then, you can hook with confidence. Unless, according to Sharks coach Ron Wilson, you’re hooking Joe Thornton. Then you can obstruct with impunity (login info.).
Bruce Garrioch says the Sharks, Senators, and Flames are all interested in Owen Nolan. He just has to wait for the NHLPA to settle his old contract with the Leafs. Nolan has had a lot of time to get healthy. Which is good. Because he’s not getting any younger.
Goalie Roberto Luongo, long thought to be on Florida’s trading block, might not be available. Garrioch says the Panthers aren’t getting fantastic offers for him (although Boston reportedly offered Joe Thornton before shipping him out west to San Jose). So the Panthers, knowing they have a great-if-royally-pissed goalie, are going to try and sign him long term. If they can’t lock him up, then they’ll try and move him, possibly to Vancouver or Colorado, the center of every goalie trade rumor from Tampa to British Columbia.
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- Good News-Bad News ...
