The 2016-17 season will be Bob Miller's last as play-by-play broadcaster of the Los Angeles Kings.
The veteran of 44 seasons calling Kings broadcasts announced - due in large to his recurring health incidents over the last few years - that he will retire after calling two more games this season.
"Due to four separate health incidents the last year, quadruple bypass heart surgery, a Transient Ischemic Attack (TIA), a mild stroke, and a stent placed in my left carotid artery, and with doctor’s advice to slow down, it’s time for me to retire," Miller said.
"I have been fortunate to work in a career I’ve always wanted, to be a radio-TV sports announcer for 57 years, 44 of those years as the Los Angeles Kings play-by-play broadcaster. Not many of us get to enjoy five decades, 3,351 games, in a career that has brought so much joy and excitement."
Miller has been unable to call a game since Jan. 16 after suffering a mild stroke during All-Star weekend.
Miller's last two broadcasts will be during the Kings' final home game April 8 against the Chicago Blackhawks and April 9 when the Kings visit the Anaheim Ducks.
In honor of Miller, the game April 8 will be Bob Miller Appreciation Day at the Staples Center, and the club plans to further honor Miller early in the 2017-18 season.
An Illinois man was so eager to snag a puck from Connor McDavid that he promised to shave his beard if the Edmonton Oilers captain made it happen.
Nick Cordell, who hadn't been without facial hair since 2008, brought a sign reading "@cmcdavid97 I will shave beard for a puck" to the Oilers' game against the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday night.
"This was one of the best experiences I've ever had at a hockey game," Cordell, a Detroit Red Wings fan, told Pat Pickens of NHL.com. "I was just in shock and awe when he gave me the puck, I couldn't believe it actually happened and never thought about backing out of the deal."
Just a day after the NHL trade deadline, Buffalo Sabres general manager Tim Murray was already looking to the offseason, insisting in an interview that his prerogative heading into next season will be updating his defensive core.
"I have to improve the team. We have to get better on the blue line," Murray told Buffalo's WGR 550 on Thursday. "That's on me. That's not on the coaches, not on the players."
"The theme within the offseason," he added, "will be to do the best we can to get a defenseman."
Despite his assertion that the team needs to improve on the back end, Murray stopped short of saying his team was out of the playoff race.
"I still believe that these players can get it done," he said, according to NHL.com's Joe Yerdon. "Maybe it's false belief, but I believe they can get it done."
Making the playoffs won't be easy for the Sabres. The club is six points back of the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference, and will have to leapfrog five other teams to get in.
The NHL officially became a 31-team league Wednesday, with the Vegas Golden Knights making their final expansion payment. Bill Foley's in business.
As general manager George McPhee looks to make his first official transaction, Foley, the team's owner, has big plans for his team. His practice facility is being built, his scouts are doing work over in Europe, a uniform is on the way, and now he's shifting his sights to broadcast deals.
"My goal is to make our team the team of the Rockies," Foley told ESPN's Arash Markazi. "We want to be the team that broadcasts in Boise, Reno, Salt Lake City, St. George, Utah, all through Montana and into Fresno, which is a shared territory, and San Francisco.
"It's the Vegas Golden Knights, but we're really going to be the Rocky Mountain Golden Knights," he said. "We're going to be everywhere."
McPhee will be at the general managers meetings next week in Florida, and it's only a matter of time before Vegas has its first player.
Jarome Iginla owes Joe Sakic one expensive bottle of wine.
When you break down the math, the Colorado Avalanche did Iginla a huge solid Wednesday. Sakic shipped the veteran to Los Angeles ahead of the NHL trade deadline, as Iginla chases his elusive Stanley Cup, while agreeing to pay 50 percent of Iginla's remaining salary. And it's possible that when the dust settles, the Avs will receive nothing in return for Iginla, and will have simply cut a cheque for him to chase his Cup dream.
We'll explain, below, as we break down some of the more interesting money movement that took place ahead of the March 1 deadline.
Iginla gets his wish
The Avs got a conditional fourth-round pick from the Kings for Iginla. Thing is, there are reportedly multiple conditions on the pick:
Condition on 4th round pick for Iginla is playoff related and potential Iggy resigns in LA.
Yes, that means the Kings must make the playoffs, and that's no guarantee. That's big.
Iginla's in the final season of his expiring contract, which pays him $5 million in salary and carries a cap hit of $5,333,333. He's owed $1,118,500 the rest of the way against the cap, according to NHL Numbers, which means L.A. will pay Iginla only $592,500 down the stretch, with Colorado picking up the other half.
And if the Kings miss the playoffs, L.A. and Colorado will have paid the same amount of money for Iginla to finish the season in Hollywood, and Colorado will receive nothing in return.
Sakic won two Cups. He knows what that life is about. But that doesn't mean trading Iginla while agreeing to pick up half his remaining salary - the Kings, like every other team, are tight up against the cap - wasn't a very generous gesture by Sakic and the rest of his front-office crew in Denver.
Help me help you
Salary retention is the name of the game these days, in a flat-capped NHL. The cap ceiling is $73 million this season, and it's expected that won't change heading into 2017-18 - meaning no relief for teams that are up against it.
Beginning with the Johnny Oduya trade on Feb. 28, the defender headed back to the Blackhawks from the Stars, salary was retained in the following transactions up until the deadline
Deal
Salary retained
Stars trade Oduya
50%
Canadiens trade Desharnais
20%
Canucks trade Hansen
20%
Red Wings trade Vanek
50%
Avs trade Iginla
50%
Flyers trade Streit
4.7%
Lightning trade Streit
50%
About the Flyers and Mark Streit: that's not a typo. The Flyers picked up 4.7 percent of the defender's remaining salary, because that's how creative teams are getting in dealing with the cap.
There's more, going back a few days. The Hurricanes retained 50 percent of Ron Hainsey's salary as part of his trade to Pittsburgh, Tampa Bay retained 20 percent of Ben Bishop's salary in dealing him to L.A., Arizona retained 50 percent of Martin Hanzal's salary as part of his deal to Minnesota, and the Blues retained 39 percent of Kevin Shattenkirk's salary - and he was the top rental player available on the market.
So much of the deadline was about teams picking up costs in order to get back assets they coveted, and teams picking up costs to ensure they wouldn't lose assets for nothing.
The Thomas Vanek deal is another good example: The Red Wings were in sell-mode, everyone knew it, and in order for general manager Ken Holland to collect a third-round pick hours before the deadline for arguably the top offensive player left on the market, he had to agree to pay 50 percent of Vanek's remaining salary.
Vanek, playing out a one-year, $2.60-million deal, will cost the Panthers only $289,000 against the cap for the rest of the season, according to NHL Numbers. That's nothing.
Money leaving Tampa
A lot of money flowed out of Tampa Bay over the past few days.
The Lightning are in it deep, coming off two late-round Stanley Cup runs, but they weren't able to bring it home. But now things must change, and they have, because Jonathan Drouin, Tyler Johnson, and Ondrej Palat are set for restricted free agency and need new contracts.
General manager Steve Yzerman traded Bishop's expiring contract, picking up almost $285,000 of what's left of it. He got out from the $5 million owed to Valtteri Filppula next season (and his no-movement clause, which means Tampa won't have to protect him in the expansion draft, opening up a spot to protect another forward). Yzerman traded Brian Boyle's expiring deal, and flipped Streit after trading for him in the Filppula transaction.
The Lightning now have around $18 million in cap space heading into next season, according to Cap Friendly, with means they'll be able to get Drouin, Johnson, and Palat signed.
Getting out from Filppula's contract was a major win for Yzerman, and, in the end, all it cost him was a conditional seventh-round pick, after he got back a fourth after flipping Streit. That's impressive general managing.
Pain now, in dealing key veterans who played major roles in the playoffs over the past two years, but the future in Tampa Bay looks a whole lot brighter.
Voracek told reporters Thursday that he's going to buy 396 new Flyers hats and donate them to local hospitals for kids battling cancer, according to CSN Philly's Matt Bowker.
The fans mistakenly tossed their headgear after Voracek's shot appeared to be touched by Simmonds before it went in, but the goal was given to Voracek upon further review because the puck was deemed to have never been deflected off Simmonds' stick.
"I think that's the first time, and hopefully last time, I (got) booed (on home ice) when I scored a goal," Voracek told the Flyers broadcast between periods. "Let's be honest, guys, I'm sorry for the hats."
By wearing No. 66 on the back of his jersey, New York Islanders rookie forward Joshua Ho-Sang is honoring and not disrespecting the great Mario Lemieux.
That's how he sees it, at any rate, in advance of his NHL regular-season debut Thursday in Dallas.
Joshua Ho-Sang will be just the 6th NHL player to wear No. 66 in a game. That was a topic of discussion this morning: pic.twitter.com/M4W89sDzyA
Only five players have worn No. 66 in NHL history, and only one - T.J. Brodie of the Calgary Flames in 2011 - chose to don it since the Pittsburgh Penguins great retired in 2006.
The number hasn't been retired by the NHL, though, meaning anyone is free to choose it.
Brad Treliving believes Curtis Lazar brings something unique to the table.
The Calgary Flames general manager sent defenseman Jyrki Jokipakka and a second-round pick to the Ottawa Senators in exchange for the 22-year-old forward, and hopes Lazar can tap into all the things that made him stand out at the junior level.
"We look at hockey sense and he's got it in spades," Treliving said, per Eric Francis of the Calgary Herald. "We're not making this bet based on what he's doing today - we think there is significant upside. He fits right in with our age group. He's got a lot of work to do to get to the level we want him to and he's committed to doing that."
Treliving added, "He's got some piss and vinegar to him and I don't think that’s bad to add to our group."
Lazar, selected 17th overall by Ottawa in 2013, entered the NHL with quite the junior pedigree after winning two WHL championhips and a Memorial Cup as a member of the Edmonton Oil Kings, as well as a gold medal at the World Junior Championships while serving as team captain for Canada.
But after averaging 0.85 points per game in the WHL, his production dropped significantly with the Senators, and Lazar managed only one assist in 33 games this season.
"You're making calculated bets in this business and information is the currency we trade in," Treliving continued. "We feel we have good information on this player and think there's upside as there's good skill and attitude there."
Lazar's entry-level contract expires at the end of this season, and he'll be out to prove he does indeed have a future in the NHL during his time with the Flames.
With the 2017 NHL trade deadline behind us, everyone can breathe a big sigh of relief - especially the industry's top reporters, who spent Wednesday glued to their phones and computers as they broke nearly two dozen deals that took place in the hours prior to the deadline.
That list of weary scribes is headed by ESPN NHL columnist and TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun, who shares his thoughts on what this year's deadline means moving forward - and how he stays sane through the craziness.
Did anything that happened Wednesday surprise you?
I think I was most surprised at how the prices plummeted. In just 24 hours, similar rental players were going for a much higher pick. And it's one of those things that you can never predict from year to year.
You look at Viktor Stalberg going to Ottawa the day before the deadline for a third-round pick; the next day, Drew Stafford goes (to Boston) for a sixth-round pick. They're almost identical players in terms of value and impact, both UFAs July 1, but (had) completely different value within 24 hours.
You really didn't want to be a team holding the bag on a rental, and some teams were. Buffalo didn't move any of their rentals. Arizona didn't move Radim Vrbata, in part because they didn't want to bring their price down. I don't know in all the years I've covered the NHL that I've seen the prices drop that dramatically in the last few hours. Teams were basically giving away some of these players.
That was probably the biggest surprise for me, because literally just the day before and the day before that, teams were at least getting second- and third-round picks for rentals.
Given the drop in price, do you think teams maybe weren't really that close on players like Vrbata or Marc-Andre Fleury?
First of all, when you talk about Fleury and Vrbata, you're talking about apples and oranges. You have to separate the potential hockey trades from the rental deals. Fleury has two more years on his deal, so anyone trading for him is making an actual hockey trade. And I don't think there was really any traction there, which I think surprised the Penguins, given Fleury's pedigree.
I think some of the potential target teams like Calgary and Dallas just decided, "Hey, let's figure out our goaltending this summer" when, with the combination of the expansion draft with Vegas and all the available goalies, teams looking for an upgrade in goal are going to have a lot more options on the table. What ended up working against Pittsburgh in trying to move Fleury was that the few options that were actually there just decided they didn't need to move now.
In terms of Vrbata, that's a different beast. I think there were certainly some options that made Arizona think. But Coyotes GM John Chayka told me that he had set a price and wasn't going to deviate - in part because they have some interest in re-signing him. And even though Vrbata didn't have a no-move clause or a no-trade clause, I think he had expressed a desire to stay.
I think that's an important sentiment sometimes when you're trying to build something like they are in Arizona. When a player says he actually wants to stay, maybe that's a sentiment you don't ignore. That's not to say (Chayka) wouldn't have moved him, but I think he was only going to move him if he got exactly what he wanted.
What were your favorite under-the-radar moves?
I think Curtis Lazar was a great buy-low opportunity for the Flames - and who knows if it ever works out, but it could have the potential of being last year's Justin Schultz trade. Schultz's value was at an all-time low when he left Edmonton for Pittsburgh last year before the deadline, and now he has become quite an important player for the Penguins.
I think Calgary made a brilliant trade there. And I'm not criticizing the Senators. (Sometimes) you get to a point with a player where you're like, "He is not going to figure it out here with us," and I think Ottawa felt that way about Lazar. I think there's some great value there long term. He may not have an impact this year, but moving forward, there might be an opportunity.
I really like Brendan Smith to the Rangers. Maybe that's not so much under the radar, because it's the Rangers, but after Kevin Shattenkirk, he was the No. 2 defenseman on the market, and I think he really solidifies things for the Rangers in a lot of different areas. I like that move.
I also like Dwight King to Montreal. I know that's a non-analytics thing to say, but they're a very small team up front ... well, they were, but Marc Bergevin continues to beef up. If you go all the way back to trading for Andrew Shaw last summer, they continue to try and change their look. I don't know if it's going to change the result, but they beefed up over the last couple of days.
What is deadline day like for you from start to finish?
What you try to do, especially since I'm on live television for eight or nine hours ... at 6, 7, 8 a.m., I try to get in as many calls as I can before we get on air just to lay the groundwork as to what some teams will at least try to do, so I can circle back and track it. I did that again Wednesday, and kind of had an idea of what a couple of teams were going to do, and it played out that way.
I bookend the entire process by apologizing ahead of time and afterwards to everyone I bug constantly from all 30 teams - because you're absolutely badgering your sources for a few days, not just deadline day, but the days leading up to it. And you feel like a schmuck for doing it, but that's the job.
The good thing is, there are a lot of good people in the hockey world and they understand we have a job to do. But it's always good to remember to thank people genuinely, because they're doing you a favor. They don't have to share this information with you. I value the relationships I have with my sources and never take them for granted and always treat them with respect.
What is the desk dynamic like between you, Bob McKenzie, and Darren Dreger?
It is not a competition at all between Bob, Darren, and I. We work as a team. We don't even care who breaks it between us, honestly. We really try to get at the end result together by combining our knowledge. We're not telling each other who our sources are, but by using our sources together, we sometimes fill the puzzle together.
I think that's a real testimony to Bob, who is the godfather of this industry. He's the reason I went to work at TSN. There's so much humility and teamwork, and it's not about who gets to break it first. I hope people realize that it's not about who gets the tweet out first. Let's just break it - who cares whose name is attached to it?
In an industry where some reporters occasionally report prematurely or incorrectly - particularly on deadline day - you are as accurate as anyone. How big a point of pride is that for you?
There's nothing that matters more to me than not being wrong. I have lost some stories because I was still not completely sure, and I wanted another source to come in on it. I have been beaten on stories because of this.
To me, it's way more important to try to keep your track record as clean as possible in terms of not being wrong than adding how many victories you have. Because the reality is, people only remember the wrong ones; the wrong ones outweigh the good ones, in my opinion. So it is absolutely supremely important to be sure of what you're reporting.
To the defense of anyone who gets caught, sometimes there are circumstances that can get someone in trouble and it's not even your fault. You can have someone from a team that believes that they've actually gotten a guy and it turns out that they didn't. But generally speaking, I just don't like taking that chance. And I know Bob and Darren feel exactly the same way.
Are you a one-phone guy on deadline day? Or do you have multiples?
On deadline day, I set up my MacBook Air in conjunction with my phone. I like to use the laptop to monitor Twitter and I also have the CapFriendly page up to remind myself of players' contractual situations. And then I use my phone for texting and talking.
One thing I find useful around the deadline is using the phone. I know it's very 90s, but ... texting is great, because it's less intrusive to your sources, but sometimes when the pressure is really on and you know something might be going on, I will sometimes phone. And it's not always appreciated, but sometimes it's a quicker way to the info.
I know there are millennials reading this saying, "What? You actually phone someone?" But it's still a good thing to do.
Do you prefer a quieter deadline? Or do you dig the craziness?
I prefer a crazier deadline because there's a more natural flow to it. One of the things that happens on a quieter day like Wednesday is that you're working even harder. I know that's probably surprising to people reading this, but you're badgering more people far more constantly trying to figure out why things aren't happening. It's stressful for completely different reasons.
Overall, though, I didn't mind this year's deadline in terms of a five-day period. It actually had a nice pace, from a couple of nice deals last Friday, Patrick Eaves and Tomas Jurco, and then Sunday you had Martin Hanzal and Ben Bishop go, big names. Monday, Brian Boyle to Toronto and Jordie Benn to Montreal, just because it involved the Leafs and the Habs, it was fun to dig in on that. And then there were more moves on the Tuesday.
The deadline day itself was obviously quiet, but the leadup was really nice in terms of news and pace. I kind of liked that.
Okay, back to the nuts and bolts of the deadline for the final question. Which single move will have the biggest impact moving forward?
It's hard not to look at Shattenkirk to Washington. He was the most talented player traded at the deadline and he went to the best team in the league. I know that's obvious, but there were a few other moves I really liked.
Jannik Hansen to San Jose is a tremendous move by Doug Wilson. He's such a versatile player, and he's not even a rental - he's signed for another year. That Sharks team is rolling again, and I really love that addition. Hanzal to the Wild is the perfect fit for the kind of grind that they're going to have to get through in the West. Those are probably the big ones for me.
