F Casey Pierro-Zabotel (Vancouver, 2007-09) signed a one-year contract with Lausitzer Füchse (Germany, 2. Bundesliga). He had 22 goals and 53 assists in 66 games with the Gwinnett Gladiators (ECHL) and one goal and one assist during a five-game loan assignment with the Charlotte Checkers (AHL) last season. Pierro-Zabotel led Gwinnett in scoring, finished fifth in league scoring, and was named to the ECHL first all-star team. . . . Pierro-Zabotel won the WHL’s 2008-09 scoring title when he put up 115 points in 72 games with the Giants.
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As you arose this morning, no doubt you were shaking your head and asking yourself: “What was the purpose of the lockout?”
You remember the lockout. There wasn’t any NHL in September or October or November or December. Just like
the last one, this was all about the owners wanting cost certainty and, yes, to put the serfs in their place.But, again, as happens every year, July arrives and the players ride the gravy train into the station.
No doubt you are aware that Friday was free-agent frenzy or, if you prefer, Christmas Part 2 for NHL players.
One tally I saw indicated that NHL teams signed 59 players to contracts worth US$394,875,000.
Think about that for a while as you attempt to enjoy your morning coffee.
And, while you are pondering, remember this: That total doesn’t include any contracts that were bought out earlier in the week.
Sheesh, why don’t the owners just turn over the keys and forget about it?
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Were you surprised when F Daniel Alfredsson, the captain of the Ottawa Senators, up and left for the Detroit Red Wings? Nicholas J. Cotsonika explains right here exactly what happened.
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Centre Colin Smith, who played the last four seasons with the WHL’s Kamloops Blazers, has signed a three-year entry-level contract with the NHL’s Colorado Avalanche. Smith, an Edmonton native, was selected by the Avalanche in the seventh round, 192nd overall, of the NHL’s 2012 draft. As a 20-year-old signed to an NHL contract, Smith is eligible to play next season with the Avalanche, or in its organization, perhaps with the AHL’s Cleveland-based Lake Erie Monsters, or with the Blazers. Smith put up 271 points, including 102 goals, in 272 regular-season games. He is 14th on the franchise’s all-time list of scorers. Last season, he finished with 106 points, including 41 goals. He is expected to be in camp with the Blazers in August, before joining Colorado’s camp.———
“It’s that time of year again, a month or so after the OHL & WHL drafts, when players and families are getting into that frenzied period of what I like to call, ‘keeping up with the Crosbys’,” writes Jason Nadeau, a player agent who often writes for Hockey Now. . . . His entire piece is right here.
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THE COACHING GAME:
As expected, Darren Rumble, an assistant coach with the Seattle Thunderbirds for the past two seasons, was named head coach of the QMJHL’s Moncton Wildcats on Friday. . . . Rumble takes over from Danny Flynn, who was bumped upstairs to focus on his duties as director of hockey operations.
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From Aaron Ward (@aaronward_nhl): “Like I said, Jarome Iginla to the Boston Bruins #TSN #ThisTimeForReal”
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