Marco Rossi won’t have to wait very long to hear his name called once things get underway at the 2020 NHL Draft. The center led the OHL in scoring this season with 120 points in 56 games which is quite impressive for anyone, let alone a draft-eligible player. If he doesn’t stick with whichever NHL team drafts him though, don’t expect him to return to junior hockey. He told Jean-Francois Plante of Le Droit that if he isn’t in the NHL, his plan is to go back overseas and play in a professional league instead; 67’s head coach Andre Tourigny told Plante that the team wouldn’t block him from trying to do so. The Austrian came up through the ranks in Switzerland before joining OHL Ottawa and could opt to play there once again.
Elsewhere around the hockey world:
- While some teams are using this layoff to get a head start on contract discussions, that doesn’t appear to be the case in Philadelphia. Flyers GM Chuck Fletcher told Jordan Hall of NBC Sports Philadelphia that he hasn’t started any talks about a new deal with any of their pending free agents. Among the notable unrestricted free agents on their roster are goalie Brian Elliott, defenseman Justin Braun, and center Derek Grant while forwards Oskar Lindblom and Nolan Patrick, who have had their seasons cut short to respective health concerns, headline their list of restricted free agents.
- With the KHL season now over, talks between the Canucks and defenseman Nikita Tryamkin have picked up, reports Postmedia’s Ben Kuzma. The 25-year-old spent parts of two seasons in Vancouver before returning to Russia for the last three seasons. However, Tryamkin is looking to return to Vancouver for the 2020-21 campaign but his agent Todd Diamond acknowledged that the uncertainty surrounding next year’s salary cap is also likely to play a role in any contract talks.
- If play resumes, the Oilers should have a pair of players back in their lineup. Head coach Dave Tippett told reporters, including Daniel Nugent-Bowman of The Athletic (Twitter link) that defenseman Mike Green (knee) and winger Joakim Nygard (upper body) have both recovered from their respective injuries and will be ready to go whenever the puck drops. Green was one of Edmonton’s trade deadline additions but played in just two games before getting hurt while the speedy Nygard has nine points in 33 games in his rookie campaign.
Yoikes! The Giant Russian could be back in VAN next year?!
Nyet(N0), he is big boy , hopefully Canucks can get him back in lineup to take some pressure of Hughes and aging Edler and help protect star players by using his size , and that he hangs around of while.
He is, in fact, BIG BOY, G! Although it was “way back” in 2016, Brad Richardson found out the hard way how imposing Tryamkin is. He was “lucky” to only come away with a season-killing broken leg after narrowly avoiding complete decapitation from The Giant Russian on what seemed to be just a strong play near the boards. I had to watch that hit a few times to see how the carnage really happened; it was just weird. BTW, for those who don’t know, I borrowed that moniker from Ray Ferraro, who witnessed Tryamkin’s stature up close and personal from between the benches. (THX, Ray!)