Thursday Links, News, and Notes
It’s been an interesting week in the hockey world mainly due to retirements and broadcasting changes happening all at once. Here is the latest and greatest
- Cam Ward won a Stanley Cup with the Hurricanes in 2006 and deserved the Conn Smyth he won. Ever since, Cam Ward has become the franchise leader in wins, losses, saves and shutouts and on a league level garnered a lot of respect. In recent years however, Ward has not been able to live up to an elite status. After 13 seasons with the Hurricanes, Ward signed with the Blackhawks but his season was not one to impress. Yesterday, Cam Ward announced his retirement at age 35 years; ending his career at 701 NHL games played with a .908 save percentage and 2.74 GAA. Cam Ward was a good goalie for most of his career however, it did seem that he got too much benefit for that Cup his won in his rookie year.
- More retirement news; this time it’s our beloved Nick Kyperos and Doug MacLean. The two veterans announced yesterday that they were parting ways with Sportsnet leaving many fans overjoyed with the news. In all fairness, while both have had many questionably moments they have been in the business for such a long time and have given the sport quite a bit.
- The Ottawa Senators released the roster for the rookie showcase this season which will run from September 6-9. The rookie tournament will take place in Belleville and the highlights will be Logan Brown, Erik Brannstrom and Vitaly Abramov among the many other exciting prospects in the system such as Drake Batherson and Alex Formenton.
- It isn’t something new but the talks of a Jesse Puljujarvi is heating up again and it seems all ties have been broken between the two teams. The 21-year old was a fourth overall pick in 2016 but hasn’t garnered the success the Oilers had hoped for him. He has officially asked for a trade and signed with a Finnish club who have a him an opt-out clause until December 1 should he be traded within the NHL./