Blüger is a priority for the Vancouver Canucks
The Vancouver Canucks are comfortably in first place in the Western Conference, and the Canadian west coast team started arming itself in time for the fight for the Stanley Cup by making two trades with the Calgary Flames. Defender Nikita Zadorov was acquired first, but the main catch followed at the very beginning of February, with the addition of center forward Elias Lindholm. The Swede, who had scored two goals in his previous 25 games, had the same tally in his Canucks debut. Universal addition – can play in the center of attack and on the side, in several positions in the majority and minority. Lindholm is no longer a scoring machine, but he is still a player who will prove his worth during the playoffs.
Teodors Blüger signed a one-season contract with the Canucks as a free agent for $1.9 million. The Latvian center’s performance has convinced Vancouver’s management to such an extent that extending the contract with Blūger is the main priority, said “Canucks” analyst Riks Dalival. “They have made it clear that they want to keep Blüger. The club’s management has decided that they want to continue cooperation. I will not be surprised if Blüger will be the first of the future free agents to sign a new contract,” said Dhaliwal.
Of course, the very, very top priority is Elias Peteshon, who is on his way to his second straight 100-point season. The Canucks are ready to make the Swedish center the highest-paid player on the team by far. The ball is in Peteshon’s side of the field and he is in no rush to take the kick. The center can become a restricted free agent in the summer, and an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2025 and leave Vancouver without compensation.
Pre-game Blueger bumps ???????? pic.twitter.com/a7pd8KjDDn
— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) February 10, 2024
666 games without a playoff
The Buffalo Sabers are preparing for the 13th spring in a row, when everyone else will fight for the Stanley Cup. The next longest streak (seven seasons) belongs to the Detroit Red Wings, who are currently in a favorable position for the playoffs.
Zemgus Girgensons played in 666 regular season games, but the taste of the NHL playoffs is foreign to him. The Latvian forward, who scored six goals in 41 games, is one of four Sabers hockey players who will become unrestricted free agents after the season. Including Girgenson, three of them are veterans who could be interesting for title contenders.
Team captain Kyle Okposo has already crossed the thousand games mark, defender Eric Johnson still has 30 games to go, Girgenson is ready to fill any role in the fourth shift and in the minority, besides, his style of play is as if he was created for the playoffs – fighting for every centimeter and responsible treatment of the puck, avoiding mistakes . The only exception is Viktor Olofsson, who has just four shutouts this season after a 28-goal season. When you put his 4.75 million salary next to it, the scenario of Olofsson going to another team seems unrealistic.
If Girgenson himself expresses a desire to be traded to team management in order to finally experience the atmosphere of the Stanley Cup championship, it is unlikely that general manager Kevin Adams will put up obstacles and demand a disproportionate compensation, taking into account Girgenson’s loyalty to the Sabers organization.
Lucas Girgensons got a puck from dad during warmups ???? pic.twitter.com/MWQoREoN7v
— Buffalo Sabres (@BuffaloSabres) February 25, 2024
New York’s sensational bully
The player who has made the biggest waves in the NHL over the past two weeks isn’t Connor McDavid, Connor Bedard or any of the luminaries. The 21-year-old New York “Rangers” forward Matt Rampi has spoken about the role of fighting in hockey and its romanticization.
He made his NHL debut in the New York derby against the “Islanders” – a game under the open sky, watched by 80,000 spectators. In his first appearance on the ice, Rempi threw down his gloves against the experienced Matt Martins, who after the game compared the 2.03-meter-tall opponent’s catch to Zdeno Hara.
✅ First NHL game
???? First NHL fight6-foot-8 Matt Rempe drops em’ with Matt Martin pic.twitter.com/eLQXfY3vUh
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) February 18, 2024
Four days later, Rampi earned a game-long ejection against the New Jersey Devils for a power play, two days later he fouled Philadelphia Flyers forward Nicolas Delaurier, and the very next day he dropped the gloves against Columbus Blue Jackets forward Mathieu Olivier and got blue eyes.
Mathieu Olivier lands some bombs on Matt Rempe ???? pic.twitter.com/5ILeK1RQh0
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) February 25, 2024
The debutante’s activities were noticed by everyone – an article was even written about him in the New York-based business publication The Wall Street Journal. Cam Jensen, who collected 774 penalty minutes in 336 NHL games, has already offered help to a young man who thinks only about deforming his opponent’s face in fights, without paying attention to defense. Olivier made great use of it.
Deslauriers and Rempe throwing absolute haymakers! ???? pic.twitter.com/LT8Ls3fc1V
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) February 24, 2024
Matthew Rempe was given a match penalty for this hit on Nate Bastian pic.twitter.com/2AzdNRJncW
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) February 23, 2024
Warning bells are ringing for low attendance in Winnipeg
The Winnipeg Jets continue their battle with the Vancouver Canucks to be the best team in the Western Conference. Four points separate the teams in the tournament table. However, if Vancouver is one of the best-attended teams in the NHL (99.5% of tickets are sold out), then Winnipeg is at the bottom – with 87.6%, it is the third from the end, ahead only of the somewhat scrappy San Jose Sharks and Buffalo. Sabers”. But in absolute numbers, both San Jose and Buffalo are ahead, as both have significantly larger arenas than Winnipeg.
When the “Jets” returned to Winnipeg in 2011, tickets were snapped up in a flash – the available 13.5 thousand season tickets were sold out in 17 minutes, but many who wanted to were left behind. The Jets sold out 332 consecutive home games after their return, but now the figures are so low that not only the club’s management, but also NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman are worried.
Winnipeg is by far the smallest NHL city. But the main stumbling block in the minds of experts is the lack of corporate backers. According to The Athletic, only 15% of the Jets’ season tickets are owned by companies, while there are teams that sell as much as half of their season tickets to companies, which then give the tickets to individual games to partners, customers and employees.
Of North America’s four major leagues, it is the NHL that is the most dependent on attendance figures. For example, in the NBA, 40% of the income comes from the sale of national television rights, while game attendance (tickets, boxes, drinks and snacks, parking) brings 34%. NHL data is completely opposite – only 19% of the income is made by the big TV contracts, while the attendance of the games provides 56%. For the North American giant NFL – 64% and 25%, respectively.
“There’s nothing to montior… it’s not the problem that it’s being made out to be.”
Gary Bettman on if the league is montioring the Jets attendance. pic.twitter.com/8mJHOKsInL
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) February 28, 2024
Current first round pairings
Eastern Conference: New York Rangers (83 points) – Tampa Bay Lightning (69), Florida Panthers (82) – Detroit Red Wings (72), Boston Bruins (82) – Toronto Maple Leafs (74), Carolina “Hurricanes” (76) – Philadelphia “Flyers” (69).
Western Conference: Vancouver Canucks (83) – Nashville Predators (68), Winnipeg Jets (79) – Los Angeles Kings (68), Dallas Stars (79) – Colorado Avalanche (77) , Las Vegas “Golden Knights” (73) – Edmonton “Oilers” (72).
2024-02-29 14:07:42
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