Let's start with some hometown news:
The Oilers have made a couple of moves lately by formally signing forward J.F Jacques to a one year deal and both defencemen Theo Peckham and Shawn Belle as well. All three guys bring size to the team, but questions still remain.
Can Jacques play a full season and stay healthy? Is Shawn Belle ready to make the jump to the NHL and if so, does he really have a spot in the Oilers top 6? It would have to be won over the likes of a Theo Peckham, who showed that he can deliver some punishing hits and hold his own in a scrap, no problem. But his defensive play needs to improve.
A little competition never hurt anyone and that's exactly what this is. Good ol' fashion competition amongst teammates. You've got to earn that job. That's the message Tambellini is sending.
In other NHL news, Mikko Koivu signed a seven-year, 47.25 million dollar contract extension with the Minnesota Wild on Thursday. Wow. Let me say that I'm a Koivu fan. I love his game. But that's a lot of money. Granted he is the teams captain and he had 71 points last season. That being said, 22 goals doesn't really wow me. He's a great 2-way player though and it's good to see him re-sign but he needs to score more goals. That whole team needs to score more goals!
Guess What!?
Kovalchuk still remains unsigned. Does anyone care? Honestly though, this stupid back and forth, the "negotiations have broken down" crap we've all been hearing has become just boring. Get it over with. Or go to the KHL, I don't care.
What's unfortunate is that Kovalchuk has been an amazing player stuck on a mediocre team. His playoff experience is limited, so to expect a ton of money is risky but when you have the regular season stats that Kovalchuk does, the arguement doesn't sound nearly as crazy. The man can score.
What's funny about it is that Atlanta isn't looking too bad. Take young guys like Bogosian, Little, Kane, Bergfors, with veterans like Antropov and Hainsey, and then add Byfuglien, Ladd and Mason, and you've got a decent team. If I'm a Thrasher fan, I've already looked past Kovalchuk. I would be pretty excited.
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