Ice Scoopz: Friday Afternoon

*-> Defenseman Paul Mara has signed a 1 year deal with the Montreal Canadiens. The deal is reportedly worth 1.5$mil. Yet another strange signing by Bob Gainey.

*-> Nick Boynton has signed a 1 year with the Anaheim Ducks also for 1.5$mil. This gives the Ducks a bit of added toughness and leadership.

*-> The NHL has taken acception to the KHL signing Jiri Hudler as he applied for arbitration. The NHL has asked the IIHF to intervene and officiate the situation. Only time can tell whether or not the situation can be resolved. My guess is that the KHL won't give a damn and nether will Hudler till they threaten to take away his international eligibility.

Well back out in the sun at the cottage another post this afternoon with some interesting Heatley and Spezza news.

KHL Playoffs Update

So the KHL finals are set: Lokomotiv vs Ak Bars. It should be an amazing series, I personally like Kazan to take this one. Aleksey Morozov has been force in the RSL and the KHL since leaving North Amarica. I also like Fredrick Norrena in net over Gaiduchenko and Zyagin . Norrena has the capabilities to steal a game. I just think Kazan has the depth over Lokomotiv with so many higher calibre players. Many are former NHL players over Lokomotiv's lower league players. The series begin on April 2nd.
Heres a quick recap on the past week in KHL hockey.

0 Metallurg Magnitogorsk vs Lokomotiv Yaroslavl 4 (Series 3 -1 for Lokomotiv)
(March 26th)
0-1 Vitaly Vishnevsky (Zbynek Irgl)
0-2 Aleksei Yashin PP
0-3 Konstantin Rudenko
0-4 Ivan Tkachenko (Konstantin Rudenko)

3 Ak Bars vs Dinamo Moskov 0 (Series 3-2 AK Bars)
(March 25th)
1-0 Dmitri Obukhov (Nikita Alekseev)
2-0 Nikita Alekseev (Dmitri Obukhov, Andrei Mukhachev)
3-0 Dmitri Kazionov (Ilya Nikulin, Aleksandr Stepanov) SH

2 Lokomotiv Yaroslavl - Metallurg Magnitogorsk 0 (Lokomotiv Wins Series 4-1)
(March 27)
1-0 Jozef Vasicek (Zbynek Irgl, Aleksei Yashin) PP
2-0 Marcus Nilson (Konstantin Rudenko, Aleksei Vasiliev) PP

1 Dinamo Moscow - Ak Bars Kazan 3 (Ak Bars Win Series 4-2)
(March 28th)
1-0 Aleksei Kalyuzhny33:32 1-1 Aleksei Badyukov (Oleg Petrov)
1-2 Oleg Petrov (Aleksei Badyukov)
1-3 Jukka Hentunen (Dmitri Kazionov, Niko Kapanen)

KHL Playoffs Update

Its playoff time for the KHL and it's currently in the semi-finals. It's been a pretty good playoffs so far Russian pundits are saying. I have yet to see a game myself but I have been following the results closely. If anyone knows where we can watch KHL games online it would be awesome if you could share. Here are the Semi's so far.

4 Dinamo Moscow vs Ak Bars Kazan 1 (Series Tied 2 - 2)
(March 24th)
0-1 Oleg Petrov (Andrei Pervyshin, Aleksei Badyukov)
1-1 Eric Landry
2-1 Aleksei Kalyuzhny (Sergei Zinoviev)
3-1 Denis Denisov (Karel Rachunek, Mattias Weinhandl)
4-1 Eric Landry (Mattias Weinhandl)

2 Metallurg Magnitogorsk vs Lokomotiv Yaroslavl 4 (Series 2-1 Metallurg)
(March 24th)
1-0 Jan Marek
1-1 Ilya Gorokhov (Ivan Tkachenko, Dmitri Semin)
1-2 Aleksei Yashin (Zbynek Irgl)
1-3 Zbynek Irgl (Johan Åkerman, Josef Vasicek)
2-3 Tomas Rolinek (Jaroslav Kudrna, Stanislav Chistov)
2-4 Aleksei Vasiliev (Dmitri Semin)

The Next games go as followed:
March 25th - Ak Bars Kazan vs Dinamo Moscow
March 26th - Lokomotiv Yaroslavl vs Mettallurg Magnitogorsk
March 27th - Dinamo Moskov vs Ak Bars Kazan

September 18th New Hits

Well sorry folks I've been pretty busy the last few days as I've been recovering from knee surgery so I haven't had time to post anything but expect a steady flow of blogs and rumours as I've had alot of ideas and stuff to report. So here goes a quick flash of what we missed...

->Robert Lang has been traded from Chicago to Montreal for the 2nd round pick Montreal acquired from Toronto for Grabovsky in the 2010 draft. This officially means Montreal is out of the Sundin sweapstakes. I really feel still though Montreal was one of his considered options and now it has forced him to rethink his options. From what I'm hearing is the Vancouver offer is sounding awfully good right about now. Also expect a few other teams with cap room to step up and make a few offers.

->Anaheim's Mathieu Schnieder has successfully cleared waivers and will report to the AHL. This is a move so they can bring Teemu Selanne in. I really expected someone to jump on him but maybe this is a chance to get him for a steal because teams now know Anaheim has really no other choice. If they do decide to keep him down in the minors thats utterly disrespectful to a great defensemen wiith alot of life left in him still. Expect a re-entry waivers claim from Los Angeles or even Ottawa I'm hearing?

->Marcus Nilson from the Calgary Flames has been placed on waivers and is expected to clear by noon tomorow. This is pre-arranged so he may play in the KHL for Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, he however will still be paid by the Flames for this season but will not count towards the cap. Also the lucky bastard by be paid as well by Lokomotiv Yaroslavl.

->Detroit has re-signed Darren McCarty to a one year deal, terms were not mentioned but I'm figuring about $825k?

->Darren Hatcher is reportedly not going to be ready for the Flyers camp next week or even the start of the season. GM Paul Holmgren has stated he expects Hatcher to stay on the IR for quite some time before his knee heels and he'll be back in the orange again.

->Vancouver Canucks assigned C Mario Bliznak and D Patrick Coulombe to Manitoba (AHL), G Morgan Clark to Red Deer (WHL) and C Prab Rai (WHL). Released D Jordie Benn, F Oren Eizenman, G Julien Ellis, LW Scott Howes, D Travis Ramsey, D Shawn Boutin, LW Tyler Matheson, F Tom May, RW Kyle Neuber and LW Jordan Skellet.

->Hurricanes forward Justin Williams will be out for 4-6 months because he tore his Achilles tendon in practise on Wednesday. That's a big blow to the Hurricanes.

That's it for now, tomorrows a new day or at least there's more of a day..