11:55 AM UPDATE
A couple of weeks ago, there was a rumor from Switzerland that NLA team SC Bern was trying to lure Danny Briere (who had played there during the 2004-05 lockout) and Claude Giroux together during the lockout. At the time, Briere was still undecided about playing in Europe and Giroux was just beginning to sift through the many offers sent his way.
In the time since then, SC Bern has moved on with other plans but, apparently, Briere and Giroux remained interested in playing together if and when they went to Europe.
Giroux, who also strongly considered an option to rejoin Jaromir Jagr and play for Czech Extraliga team HC Rytiri Kladno, has elected instead to head to Germany's DEL along with Briere. Both players have signed with Eisbären Berlin (Berlin Polar Bears).
Eisbären has been THE dominant team in the DEL since the time of the last NHL lockout, winning six of the last eight championships, including both the 2010-11 and 2011-12 titles. But the club is off to a bit of a slow start this season (3-4 in its first 7 games) and was looking to make a dramatic move.
The team is owned by the Anschutz Entertainment Group, which also owns the defending Stanley Cup champion Los Angeles Kings in addition to several other European hockey teams. In fact, Anschutz actually owns two DEL teams. The other one -- the Hamburg Freezers -- just signed Jamie Benn earlier this week.
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7:45 AM
Here's the latest on the status of Claude Giroux during the lockout:
* Sport Express in Russia has
reported that Avangard Omsk is out of the running for Giroux at this point after talks stalled. The team has instead signed Winnipeg Jets captain Andrew Ladd.
* Czech publication iSport reported last night (U.S. time) that, with Avangard seemingly out of the picture now, a reunion of Giroux and Jaromir Jagr with the Jagr-owned HC Rytiri Kladno team appears to be
close to becoming reality.
* However, there are still a few other rumors floating around regarding Giroux. Yesterday,
a report from Switzerland said that Swiss National League A team EV Zug was also trying to put together an offer for Giroux. Meanwhile, the player is at least
kicking tires with teams in Sweden, according to Aftonbladet. The Swedish report acknowledges that it's unlikely Giroux plays in Sweden.
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Phantoms training camp continues in Voorhees today. Today's session runs from 9:30 AM to noon. It will be conducted on the Phantoms ice. After today, that there is only one more practice slated for Voorhees, which will take place on Sunday.
The Phantoms have two road preseason games in the interim. On Friday, they will rematch with the Albany Devils in Newark. On Saturday, the Phantoms head north to play the Connecticut Whale in New York.
After Sunday's practice at the SkateZone, the Adirondack club will depart for Glens Falls. They'll resume training camp on Tuesday (Oct. 9) in preparation for the regular season opener on Sat., Oct. 13. The Phantoms open the season at home against the Portland Pirates.
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Nick Cousins scored the game-winning goal in the third period of the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds' 6-5 victory over the Saginaw Spirit last night. Cousins' goal at the 12:36 mark, scored just 27 seconds after the Grehounds tied the score, capped off a dramatic comeback from a two-goal deficit in the final period. Cousins also earned an assist on the Andrew Fritsch tally that started the comeback.
Despite the legal issues he faces, Cousins is off to a tremendous start this season. He's racked up 10 points (4G, 6A) in the first 5 games. The agitating center also has 8 PIM.
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Ilya Bryzgalov is slated to get his second start for CSKA Moscow today when the team takes on Spartak Moscow. Rastislav Stana had to leave the team's last game with a third-period injury. Bryzgalov struggled in his first start and was unable to get back in the lineup because former Washington Capitals goalie Stana (9 GPI, 1.41 GAA, .951 save percentage, back-to-back shutouts) has been the best goaltender in the KHL thus far.
A
live webcast is available for free, starting at 10:45 AM eastern U.S. time.
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The Flyers have always been an organization that pushed the envelope with NHL rules and regulations. Yesterday marked the 23rd anniversary of the
events that triggered the league's "Acton-Peeters Rule", which prohibits NHL teams from immediately reacquiring a traded player.
Back in 1989, the NHL still had an annual waiver draft at the end the preseason. Each NHL team could only protect a certain number of veteran players from the draft, and it was not uncommon for other teams to claim a player or two that the original team would have preferred to keep on the roster.
Flyers general manager found himself in this situation in 1989. He did not have room to protect either checking center Keith Acton or backup goaltender Pete Peeters from the waiver draft. He wanted to keep both players without exposing them to the draft. So what could he do?
Clarke's solution: Find another team willing to stash Acton and Peeters on their own protected list and then return the two players to the Flyers immediately after the waiver draft. He found an agreeable accomplice in Winnipeg Jets general manager Mike Smith.
On Sept. 29, the Flyers traded Acton and Peeters to Winnipeg for future considerations. On Oct. 4, the Jets returned the two players -- who never reported to Winnipeg -- to Philadelphia. In exchange, the two sides agreed to cancel the future consideration and the Flyers sent the Jets a 1991 5th-round pick that originally belonged to Toronto.
The draft pick was eventually used by Winnipeg to select Finnish forward Juha Ylönen, who later spent four-plus seasons with the team (which by then had become the Phoenix Coyotes). So at least the club did end up getting something out of the arrangement that was essentially one GM doing another one a favor.
The NHL permitted the trade but made clear it was not happy with what the Flyers had done. All of the parties involved denied that what happened was anything other than a coincidence.
Acton and Peeters claimed they had no advanced knowledge that the initial trade was an on-paper transaction, and they'd end up staying with the Flyers. Peeters said he went back to his home in Alberta for a few days and was preparing to report to the Jets when he learned he'd been traded back to the Flyers. Acton cryptically said he'd been "here and there" in the interim (translation: he never left the Philadelphia area) and was "relieved" to find out he'd been re-obtained by the Flyers.
Clarke said the trade was made in good faith and, while the Flyers didn't want to lose either player to the waiver draft, he had no idea the team would be able to get them back on the roster. Clarke said that Smith called him a few days after the trade and told the Philadelphia GM that the Jets had re-evaluated their opening night roster plans, and there wasn't room for Acton or Peeters after all.
Smith told NHL president John Ziegler the same story. Winnipeg claimed there had never been discussion of stashing the players in exchange for a draft pick, and that Acton and Peeters would have stayed with the Jets had there been available spaces when the club determined its opening-night roster.
In permitting the trade reversal, Ziegler declared that there were no rules broken nor direct evidence of a prearrangement by the two teams to reverse the trade. However, the NHL soon adopted a new rule that specifically prohibited similar transactions in the future.
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