The hockey world continues to keep tabs on the situation between USA Hockey and its women’s team in advance of the World Championships which start this week. Player agent Allan Walsh suggested late Saturday that American NHL players may also decline to participate in their World Championships (which start in May) as a sign of solidarity. With the puck dropping on the women’s side on Friday, there will likely be plenty more to this story in the days to come. In the meantime, here are five key stories from the week that was:
1) Sharp To Undergo Hip Surgery – It came out just before the trade deadline that Dallas winger Patrick Sharp had been dealing with a lingering issue that wound up preventing the Stars from trading him. It came out on Saturday that he is set to undergo hip surgery, ending his season. The pending unrestricted free agent will be sidelined for four to five months so he should be ready in time for training camp. Sharp finishes the campaign with just 18 points in 48 games, his lowest point total since his rookie season back in 2003-04.
2) Halak’s Back – Earlier this season, the Islanders determined their three goalie situation wasn’t an ideal one and eventually waived Jaroslav Halak, sending him to the minors after he went through unclaimed. Now, with the team battling for their playoff lives, New York is once again turning to carrying three netminders as they recalled him on Thursday. His return was a successful one as he made 37 saves in a shootout win against the Penguins. The Isles have eight games remaining and sit two points behind Boston with a game in hand for the final Wild Card spot and will likely turn to Halak again at some point in the next two weeks.
3) Ekblad Returns, Gets Hurt Again – The return of Panthers blueliner Aaron Ekblad from his latest concussion came as quite the surprise, especially since he had only missed a couple of weeks and the fact that Florida is out of the playoff picture. His return was short-lived though as he has suffered a neck injury and is once again on the shelf. Head coach/GM Tom Rowe admitted on Saturday that he had some reservations about putting him back in, even though he had been cleared to return by team doctors.
4) KHL Free Agent Asking Prices – KHL forwards Vadim Shipachyov and Evgeni Dadonov are expected to be highly sought after this summer but teams that are interested better be prepared to pay up. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported on Wednesday that Shipachyov is seeking a contract with an AAV of $5.5MM while Dadonov is looking for $3.5MM per year. Shipachyov was third in KHL scoring with 76 points in 50 games and has yet to play at the NHL level. Dadonov came in fifth with 66 points in 53 games and spent parts of three NHL seasons with Florida early in his career.
5) Blue Jackets Extend Three – Columbus signed a trio of players to two year extensions on Monday. Defenseman Scott Harrington inked a two year, $1.65MM contract as did forward Lukas Sedlak while forward Markus Hannikainen signed a deal worth a total of $1.35MM. Of those three, only Sedlak will meet the NHL’s 40/70 requirements when it comes to meeting an exposure quote in the Las Vegas expansion draft in June.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.