Gavrikov made his NHL debut last season and tallied 18 points in 69 games while averaging about 19 minutes of ice time per contest. The 6-foot-3, 213-pound rearguard was deployed primarily in a shutdown role alongside veteran David Savard. He performed well at five-on-five and on the penalty kill despite the tough matchups, as evidenced by HockeyViz's isolated impact:
Positive is good in the offensive zone (top row), negative is good in the defensive zone and penalty kill (bottom row).
hockeyviz.com
"Vladimir Gavrikov was everything we hoped he would be during his rookie season last year, establishing himself as a top-four defenseman in the National Hockey League," said Blue Jackets general manager Jarmo Kekalainen. "He is still a young player that we expect will get better every year and continue to be an important part of our blue line."
Drafted by the Blue Jackets in the sixth round in 2015, Gavrikov spent five seasons in the KHL before joining Columbus for his age-24 campaign.
The Blue Jackets have $9.2 million remaining in projected cap space, per CapFriendly, but still have to sign fellow restricted free agent Pierre-Luc Dubois.
Strome's arbitration hearing was scheduled for Thursday. The two sides were reportedly set to enter the process over $2 million apart.
The 27-year-old had a breakout season in 2019-20, racking up 59 points in 70 games while primarily playing alongside Hart Trophy finalist Artemi Panarin.
Strome was originally selected fifth overall by the New York Islanders in 2011. He showed promise with 50 points in his sophomore campaign, but he averaged just 32 points over his next four seasons prior to 2019-20.
The Blueshirts acquired the pivot from the Edmonton Oilers in November 2018 in exchange for Ryan Spooner.
The Rangers have $6.4 million remaining in projected cap space, according to CapFriendly. However, they still need to sign restricted free agent Brendan Lemieux. The two sides are reportedly set to enter Friday's arbitration hearing roughly $1 million apart.
Earlier this week, theScore explored the writing and release of "Fabric of the Game," Chris Creamer and Todd Radom's deep dive into the history of the names and logos of every NHL team - plus 15 bygone franchises and the Seattle Kraken.
In a recent interview, the authors identified their all-time favorite NHL logos and broke down the design characteristics that make these emblems so appealing. Each expert's top five choices are listed alphabetically below, and their analysis follows.
Creamer: Buffalo Sabres, Colorado Rockies, Detroit Red Wings, Hartford Whalers, New Jersey Devils
Radom: Atlanta Flames, Boston Bruins, Minnesota Wild, Philadelphia Flyers, Winnipeg Jets (original)
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Atlanta Flames
Eric Vail, 1979. Focus On Sport / Getty Images
When new, Canadian ownership whisked this franchise north to Calgary four decades ago, the Flames' uniforms retained a dash of Atlanta: the Coca-Cola shade of red native to the soda giant's home city.
The simplicity and coherence of Atlanta's flaming "A" logo have long stuck with Radom, a renowned graphic designer: "It conveys a lot with a little, which is always my criteria."
Radom was 16 when, in 1980, he attended one of the Flames' first games as a Calgary-based team and came to appreciate the "C" variant on its own merits. It's just that the "A" set a high standard.
"Once you've seen the 'A' with the flame right in the middle, (the 'C' isn't) quite as elegant," Radom said. "But listen, 40 years on, the Flames are not only wearing them but reverting back to that original look. It holds up."
Boston Bruins
Zdeno Chara, 2020. Mark Blinch / NHL / Getty Images
"Fabric of the Game" dispels a well-worn tale about the Bruins' spoked "B": that the logo was designed in 1948 to assert Boston's status as the "Hub of the Universe," a voguish nickname for the city in the 19th century. The authors' research turned up no corroborating evidence, though Radom said they're still on the lookout.
Setting aside what the "B" isn't, Radom finds it easy to value what the mark is. It's solid, includes arresting colors, and remains faithful to the 72-year-old initial design despite minor font and outline tweaks. Badass teams donned the "B" in the 1970s, Radom said, and today, historical consistency begets instant recognition.
"They look like the Bruins," Radom said. "You flip on a game, look at your screen: They are the Bruins."
Buffalo Sabres
Mike Ramsey, 1991. Graig Abel / Getty Images
"Extraordinarily clever" is how Creamer, the editor of SportsLogos.net, describes the balance Buffalo struck with its 1970 expansion logo. The jersey crest features a buffalo and crossed sabers. "It says it all," Creamer noted. Chef's kiss. 'Nuff said.
Why meddle with perfection? Seymour Knox III, the Sabres' founding owner, voiced that sentiment during the mid-1990s rebrand that completely changed the club's appearance. If Original Six teams don't overhaul their logos, he argued, Buffalo shouldn't feel the need, either. Only in 2010 did the Sabres ditch the maligned "Buffaslug" to revive the original design, vindicating Knox 14 years after his death.
Next season, the crest will again be royal blue rather than dark blue, completing the return to roots.
"We can look back on this now and think, 'This guy was onto something,'" Creamer said of Knox. "If only he could see what's happening now."
Colorado Rockies
Lanny McDonald, 1980. Bruce Bennett / Getty Images
It's Creamer's belief that blue-red-yellow color schemes should get far more play across North American sports. The NCAA's Kansas Jayhawks swear by such a pattern. The same goes for the NBA's Denver Nuggets, though red isn't paramount in their motif.
From 1976-82, before the Rockies moved to New Jersey and an expansion MLB team picked up the name, this NHL club rocked a tricolor, white-striped Rocky Mountain logo crafted in the image of Colorado's state flag.
"An amazing, remarkable thing to do," Creamer said, praising the decision to meld two signature state symbols.
It's only fitting that the Colorado Avalanche, recognizing their heritage, now trot out a similar mountain icon as an alternative logo.
"In the wrong colors, but still," Creamer said.
Detroit Red Wings
Gordie Howe, 1956. Bettmann / Getty Images
As with the Bruins, Creamer applauds Detroit for riding with the same logo through the eras. Save for the occasional cosmetic update, no one has touched or sullied the winged wheel that Ted Lindsay, Gordie Howe, Steve Yzerman, and Nicklas Lidstrom each sported in turn.
Longevity is one thing, but how's this for added historical significance: Detroit's famous emblem is a tribute to the first winners of the Stanley Cup, the amateur Montreal Hockey Club's "Winged Wheelers." That outfit lifted the chalice in 1893, a full 115 years before the Red Wings celebrated the most recent of their 11 titles.
"To me, that alone - the history attached to it, to the origins of hockey - make it one of the greatest logos in the NHL," Creamer said.
Hartford Whalers
Mark Hunter, 1991. Graig Abel / Getty Images
Creamer named his top logos in no particular order, but this one might be his favorite, partly because of a childhood lesson his dad imparted. He recalls browsing old sets of Upper Deck hockey cards and mocking team insignias he didn't understand, Hartford's trademark whale tail among them.
He'd never noticed the hidden green "H" just above the Whaler "W." When his dad pointed this out, it was a lightbulb moment for Creamer - the realization there's more to some logos than immediately meets the eye.
The whale tail is at once nuanced and straightforward, he said, not to mention pleasantly colorful. It depicts the franchise's identity through an illustration a kid could replicate.
What else explains the logo's enduring charm?
"The team doesn't exist anymore," Creamer said. "That doesn't hurt."
Minnesota Wild
Zach Parise and Brad Hunt, 2020. Andy Devlin / NHL / Getty Images
"How do you embody something that is a Wild?" Radom wondered when this franchise settled on a name in the late 1990s. Unlike a saber or a whaler, unlike a flame or a mountain range, Minnesota saddled its designers with an abstract muse: something rugged or picturesque, sure, but without a readymade or obvious form.
Happily, Radom said, the end product nails the look and feel of venturing off the grid in the State of Hockey: "It takes you to a certain place."
At the top of the logo, the sun sets above green trees and a handsome red sky. A river winds into the forest from the bottom right corner. The scene unfolds within the contours of an animal head, the creature's eye represented by the north star that salutes Minnesota's first NHL club.
Radom believes the logo has "gained equity over the past two decades," even though the Wild have iced few great teams in that period.
"That's a hard thing to pull off, but they pulled it off," he said.
New Jersey Devils
Scott Gomez, 2003. Dave Sandford / Getty Images
Like Hartford's whale tail, camouflaged "H", and foundational "W", elements in the Devils' logo fuse to produce a harmonious whole. There's power in being direct, Creamer said. New Jersey's creation - interlocked initials that contort into a devil's tail and horns - certainly fits the bill.
The Devils released the mark in 1982, not long before Creamer was born, and the only notable edit in 38 years has been a change in the color of the background circle: a shift from green to black for a more assertive, less Christmassy motif. The organization wore black trim in its three championship seasons, a coincidence that strengthened the brand.
"Some logos are elevated by success," Radom said. "(The Devils) become a little dynasty, and that logo is elevated by virtue of the fact that they have those Stanley Cups."
Philadelphia Flyers
Bobby Clarke, 1975. Focus On Sport / Getty Images
Fundamentally, Radom likes the shapes Philadelphia has used to brand itself since 1967: the slanted "P" that sprouted wings; the central orange dot that imitates a puck. The Flyers helped kick-start the league's expansion era, but their commitment to visual tradition is reminiscent of an Original Six club. Like Boston and Detroit - and unlike Buffalo - they've stayed the course.
Spiritually, Radom has long appreciated that the Flyers wear orange and black, verging off-trend in the cradle of U.S. independence.
"Where 1776 rules all, the Flyers are not red, white, and blue, and there are no stripes or stars," he said.
Apart from brief experiments with silver and gold trim, Philly's logo has remained untouched, its aesthetic distinctive.
"It looks as good now as it did when Bobby Clarke was out there with no teeth," Radom said.
Winnipeg Jets (original)
Dave Babych (left) and Dale Hawerchuk, 2016 Heritage Classic. Jonathan Kozub / NHL / Getty Images
Winnipeg's original hockey team, a three-time World Hockey Association champion in the 1970s, took what Radom characterizes as a "kitchen sink" approach to its emblem.
"It has everything," he said. "It says Winnipeg. It says Jets. It has a picture of a jet. It has a hockey stick. But you put all that together, it's only two colors, and there's something about it that is kind of goofy and '70s."
Those Jets wore the logo in the NHL until 1990. Long after they departed for Phoenix, the current name-holders reprised the style - airplane silhouette and all - for the Heritage Classic in both 2016 and 2019. The tributes looked great, Radom said, and they reminded him of a fond teenage memory: requesting a pocket schedule from the WHA by mail.
"The WHA sent me back these decals, which I still have, all these years later," Radom said. "Among them is this Winnipeg Jets logo. It makes me feel warm inside."
Columbus Blue Jackets forward Gustav Nyquist underwent surgery Tuesday to repair a labral tear in his left shoulder and is expected to fully recover in five-to-six months, the team announced Wednesday.
General manager Jarmo Kekalainen revealed the ailment was a chronic issue that Nyquist has dealt with for a number of seasons.
"He has been able to perform at a high level, but a cyst in the area developed over time that has inhibited his ability to continue to do so," Kekalainen said. "As a result, surgery was the best course of action and we look forward to having him back at full strength this season."
The 31-year-old completed his first season with the Blue Jackets in 2019-20 after inking a four-year, $22-million pact with the club last summer. He recorded 15 goals and 42 points in 70 games.
The NHL has expressed its desire to target Jan. 1 as the start date for next season. Nyquist's timetable would have him on track to return in April or May.
With Lemieux's arbitration hearing scheduled for Friday, the team filed for a two-year deal worth roughly $1.0125 million per year while the player is seeking $2 million annually, reports Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman.
The son of four-time Stanley Cup champion Claude Lemieux, Brendan is a chip off the old block - in a sense. The 24-year-old plays the same old-school, physical, agitating game his father did, as evidenced by the 164 hits and 111 penalty minutes he accumulated this past season.
He's yet to reach offensive heights similar to his father's, however, as his modest 18 points in 59 games for the Rangers last season marked a career high.
New York is also reportedly more than $2 million apart in negotiations with center Ryan Strome, whose arbitration hearing is set for Thursday.
