Patrick Kane still moved to Broadway. The Rangers, despite the tight salary cap, decided to prove that you can step into the same river twice and, contrary to the Beatles’ mandate, you can still buy love, that is, the Stanley Cup.
The fantasy and ability of NHL managers to navigate the many slingshots of the league, striving with all their might to even the chances of franchises, are indestructible and virtuous. At the same time, the powerful, apparently like Bettman, with his numerous servants, can do nothing. within the current regulations.
Everyone remembers how Tampa hid the future Stanley Cup top scorer on the long-term disabled list for the entire regular season. Magically, he turned out to be absolutely healthy just before the start of the playoffs, what a coincidence!
Previously, something similar, in order not to exceed the salary cap, of course, and it only works in the regular season, but it does not work in the playoffs! – spun “Chicago” with the same Kane. Magnificent effect in both cases. The Lightning won the Stanley Cup again in 2021. The Blackhawks in 2015, with the suddenly resurrected American, clinched the coveted cup for the third time in six years.
Before the transfer window closed on March 3, the league warned clubs that it would look into dealings for injured hockey players who could still play in the season. So that teams don’t take advantage of the very loophole in the regulation: trade a player, put him on the long-term injured list, and retire from there before the playoffs.
Naive!
If the NHL had Columbus’ Swedish forward Gustav Nykvist in mind, who ended up in the infirmary after the game with Edmonton on January 26, Minnesota yesterday, following Zheglov, barked through a megaphone at Humpbacked/Bettman:
– You will get a hole from a donut, not from Sharapov/Nykvist. It has been around for a long time. Your arms are short.
Of course, the “wild” for the election in the fifth round of the 2023 draft took the sick Scandinavian from the “Columbus” and immediately sent him to the long-term disabled list. And what did the league do? And nothing!
But the main thing here is something else! I’m telling you, there is no limit to the ingenuity and ingenuity of overseas peddlers. Shooting the correct player stuck on the ballot is not enough. Rather, it is a bygone stage. Only Sean Monahan (Montreal) and Adam Henrik (Anaheim) remain on the market today. But how do you fit a healthy player into the salary cap, and even with a multi-million dollar contract? Here, it seems, is the problem!
But nothing is impossible! The player’s salary is simply divided into parts, that’s all! By the way, the Columbuses kept half of Nykvist’s salary, and thus Minnesota’s payroll increased by only $2.75 million.
That’s how the Rangers landed Kane, with his whopping $10.5 million annual fee. Chicago let the American go to Arizona, but retained half of his salary – 5.25 million, Arizona took half of this amount – 2.625 million, and for the election in the third round of the 2025 draft sent Kane to his beloved Khlebushka. As a result, instead of $10.5 million, only $2.625 million will go under the salary cap for New Yorkers! voila!
A similar feint that “Rangers” had previously done in the exchange of “St. Louis” Tarasenko. The Blues retained half of Vladimir’s $7.5 million contract, which is why the Russian has just $3.75 million on the blue jersey bill.
Sleight of hand, and no fraud!
It should be noted that this trick only works with players with contracts about to expire. That is, everything is done strictly for the upcoming playoffs: there is only one task – to win the Stanley Cup here and now at any cost.
This is beneficial for all parties. The former club receives at least some compensation for a player who would have left for free in the summer. An intermediate team like Arizona or Columbus, with those dead souls, reaches half the salaries, and also acquires cheap assets for the future. The new team, within the framework of the regulations, is reinforced on time -although the Rangers, with the arrival of Tarasenko and Kane, perhaps doubled their firepower-. At least on paper. The player himself has a great opportunity to increase his value before entering the transfer market.
How has Dmitry Orlov succeeded in Boston so far? The former defender of “Washington” today scored 3 (2+1) points in Calgary and repeated Zdeno Hara’s record performance in the first three games for the Bruins – 5 (2+3). The guests squeezed the Flames in overtime – 4:3. They are already writing across the ocean, they say, “Boston” needed only three games to turn Dmitry Orlov into Bobby Orrlov.
There is no great exaggeration here. The role of the Siberian has changed in the team that led the entire season in the NHL. It is clear that he is fully trusted. They even found a special place for him on a strike zone throw-in in the left circle. Dimitri then approaches the net, where he circles himself waiting for a pass after a throw-in for a bunt touch. This is how he made it 2-0 on the scoreboard today, when Bergeron shot Debraska down the right from the point, and extended it to Orlov. Well, the newcomer from the “bears” opened the scoring already in the 5th minute from the first shot of the guests! And it was all really done in the style of the greatest Canadian defender of all time, Bobby Orr. Dmitry picked up the puck in the zone from him, accelerated and from a distant penny, not paying attention to the stunned opponents for unheard-of impudence, shot the nine.
Here registered, so registered! In three games, 5 (2+3) points against 19 (3+16) in 43 games for the Capitalinos.
Meanwhile, Sergei Bobrovsky went down in history. The two-time Vezina Trophy winner appears to have been extremely moved by the shocking news that his young American replacement, Knight, will have to undergo a special NHL rehabilitation program. Obviously, there is no more turn for the Siberian in Florida. It is possible that the whole team has tightened, accommodated. Today the Panthers in Tampa simply swept the hosts in the southern derby – 4:1. Andrey Vasilevsky saved 37 shots, but this did not save the “lightning”.
There’s Bob’s 354th NHL win! This is a Russian record. The previous achievement belonged to Evgeny Nabokov, but it took him 697 games to achieve it. Bobrovsky now has 631 games.
And finally, the fate of Vladislav Gavrikov was decided. He was heavily matched with Boston, but changed his mind and pulled Bobby Orrlov from the American capital. In anticipation of the exchange, in order not to get injured, Columbus has not set foot on the ice since February 12! I still found a buyer. On the west coast! Now there will be Russians in Los Angeles! For Gavrikov and the Finnish goalkeeper Korpisalo, the ‘kings’ sacrificed their legend, the goalkeeper Quick.
This deal became known after the “Kings” in Winnipeg this morning in Moscow defeated the “Jets” – 6:5 in shootouts, and the captain of the guests Kopitar knocked out poker. According to insiders, Jonathan Quick is terribly upset because he doesn’t want to move from California to Columbus. And the whole team seemed a bit down, despite the decided win over Winnipeg. Disappointment could be seen even on the face of the night’s hero, Anzhe Kopitar.
That’s the NHL deadline: nothing personal, it’s just business. And now the entire planet awaits the debut of Patrick Kane and the restoration of the Rangers of their Chicago connection with Artemy Panarin. The old friends will begin to re-enter the turbulent waters of the river in Philadelphia tonight in Moscow, starting at 3:00. Do not miss!
