Legends Retire, New Biggest Contract in Hockey, Chychrun Updates & More

There’s pre-season hockey in just two days! In the meantime, here are some links, news, and notes to discuss:

• Jacob Chychrun’s name has been in the rumour mill for almost a year now, and he of course has been connected to the Ottawa Senators. He told reporters yesterday that the Coyotes offered to deal him to a contender and that he still hopes that will happen.
• There’s a new richest player in the NHL: Stanley Cup champion Nathan MacKinnon. The superstar will get paid with an AAV of $12.6M over the next eight seasons after 2022-23. For reference, Connor McDavid is making $12.5M per season over the next four seasons, but he’ll surely be making more than that once it expires.
• In some very strange news, Ben Bishop will not be allowed to work with the Dallas Stars organization in the front office this year, as he is still under contract with the Buffalo Sabres for one more year (but obviously won’t be playing). Strange that this wasn’t allowed but Chris Pronger being in player safety while being under contract was...
• Down Goes Brown analyzes how weird of an off-season each Eastern Conference had. It’s a fun read and Ottawa is up there, but not at the top!
• The Senators have three groupings in their training camp with Team Neil, Team Phillips, and ...Team Alfredsson. Is that a sign of good things to come with Alfie?
• The Senators have officially relaunched the “Senators Community Foundation” just over two years after the Sens foundation and the team cut ties back in June 2020. It’s fantastic to see that they will be helping make a difference in the community again, plus this restores some normalcy again because it was incredibly strange to see a foundation like that not in place.
• Three NHL defense legends retired on Tuesday, as Zdeno Chara, PK Subban, and Keith Yandle are all officially out of the league. All three were phenomenal players, with Chara being a sure-fire Hall-of-Famer. What’s crazy is that Chara was already 33 years old when Subban made his NHL debut.
• The pressure is on Toronto Maple Leafs GM Kyle Dubas as he heads into his final season under contract.
• Nils Lundkvist had no future in New York, and he was dealt to the Dallas Stars for a 2023 1st round pick and a conditional 4th. The 22-year-old right-shot defenseman is a risky acquisition but has tons of potential. I would’ve liked to see Ottawa go after him, but that is a steep price that I would have avoided.
• The Vegas Golden Knights announced they will be making their gold jerseys their full-time home uniforms. I...don’t know about that.
• And lastly, in other uniform news, the Maple Leafs will have the Dairy Farmers of Ontario “Milk” patch as a sponsor. I can’t tell if I hate it or love it:/

NEW: Toronto Maple Leafs have announced that Dairy Farmers of Ontario’s “Milk” patch will appear on all the team’s game sweaters starting this season. pic.twitter.com/gvc9L4QY8A

— Toronto Sun (@TheTorontoSun) September 20, 2022