NHL Daily: Leafs Sign More Guys, Columbus Eyeing D-Man and More
NHL Daily: Leafs Sign More Players, Columbus Eyeing Defenseman, Chicago Needs to Make a Move on Pokka and More! (Morning NHL Headlines)
Grab your morning cup of coffee and join us here at Puck Prose for a compilation of NHL daily links that will help keep you updated with everything going on in the hockey world.
Two games were played Tuesday night, the Nashville Predators have taken a 2-1 series lead over St. Louis by a score of 2-1. And finally, the New York Rangers have gotten one step closer to the gap by putting the series against Ottawa now at 2-1 by a score of 4-1.
NHL Daily: Morning NHL Headlines
Leafs Sign Standout Rookie Defenseman
Near the last couple months of the season, there was a lot of talk about the Maple Leafs re-signing defenseman Nikita Zaitsev to a long term deal. Well, they have done just that inking him to a seven-year contract worth $31,500,000 which averages $4,500,000 per season. (Tip Of The Tower)
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Toronto Makes A Surprise Signing
The Leafs have 23 expiring contracts which mean a lot of re-signing to do. They made a rather surprising move when they re-signed depth forward Ben Smith. The deal is worth $650,000 for one year, this means it may be unlikely the team will re-sign Brian Boyle. (Tip Of The Tower)
Chicago Needs To Make Move on Pokka
The Blackhawks acquired a pretty stellar defenseman in 2012, however, he's yet to play for Chicago spending all of his time down in Rockford of the AHL. But now with Chicago needing to rebuild and Johnny Oduya and Brian Campbell most likely out, Ville Pokka could very well get his long-awaited chance to be a regular NHL player. (Blackhawk Up)
Blue Jackets Pursuing Russian Defenseman
Word is the Columbus Blue Jackets are in talks with signing Russian defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov. He's only 21 years old and has tremendous size ready for the NHL and during the KHL playoffs this year Gavrikov put up five points in 15 games and finished with a plus-five rating. (Union And Blue)
Islanders Forward Named Alternate Captain for Team USA
Brock Nelson has had a solid year for the Islanders this season and since the club didn't make the playoffs their entire roster was free to play in this year's World Championships. And Brock Nelson has gone to join Team USA, but that's not all, they have also put the letter A on the front of his jersey which is a big honor. (Eyes On Isles)
Pittsburgh Loses Their Best Player
The verdict is in, Sidney Crosby will miss game four with a concussion. How much time he losses after that is still unknown. The incident occurred in game three against Washington when Alex Ovechkin slashed Crosby and as he was falling defenseman Matt Niskanen cross checked Sid in the head. It definitely looked scary and now that he's gone, Pittsburgh's fate in the playoffs also looks scary. (Fansided)
