While there aren’t any games going on at the moment, there was still a fair bit of news around the hockey world over the past seven days.
Barabanov To Toronto: Russian winger Alexander Barabanov had been fielding interest from numerous NHL teams in recent weeks and he made his choice on where to sign, inking a one-year deal with Toronto for 2020-21. The deal is worth the entry-level maximum of $925K and does not contain any performance bonuses. The 25-year-old had been playing with SKA St. Petersburg of the KHL in recent years and had 46 points in 58 games in 2018-19. Those numbers dipped this season (20 points in 43 contests) but that still didn’t stop the Maple Leafs among others from pursuing him. It’s the second year in a row that Toronto has turned to this route to fill a roster spot after signing winger Ilya Mikheyev last offseason.
Another Positive Test: The Avalanche announced that another one of their players has tested positive for COVID-19. They did not identify the player. This is the third Colorado player to test positive while the Senators have had five players get the virus, all of whom have since recovered. These are the only known cases among current NHLers.
Cave Passes Away: Tragedy struck this week as Oilers center Colby Cave passed away on Saturday at the age of 25. He had been hospitalized earlier in the week and placed in a medically-induced coma after suffering a brain bleed. He then underwent emergency surgery to remove a colloid cyst that was causing pressure on his brain soon after but remained in a coma until his passing. At the time of his hospitalization, his agent indicated that this was not related to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Cave played in 67 career NHL games over parts of three seasons with Boston and Edmonton. We join many in the hockey world in offering our condolences to Cave’s family and friends.
History Made In Switzerland: Florence Schelling had a stellar career in women’s hockey, representing Switzerland in ten World Championships and four Olympics while playing professionally in Canada, Sweden, and of course Switzerland. Now she’s set to make her mark at the executive level and is making history in the process. SC Bern of the Swiss NLA has hired the 31-year-old as their new sports director and general manager, making her the first female to be named GM of a top-tier men’s professional team.
Final Draft Rankings: While there is no word yet on when the 2020 NHL Entry Draft will be held after the event that was originally scheduled for late June was recently postponed, that hasn’t stopped NHL Central Scouting from releasing their final rankings. As usual, players were grouped into four categories – North American Skaters, North American Goalies, International Skaters, and International Goalies. The top-ranked players in each category are Alexis Lafreniere (Rimouski, QMJHL), Nico Daws (Guelph, OHL), Tim Stuetzle (Mannheim, DEL), and Yaroslav Askarov (St. Petersburg, VHL).
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.