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The Markham arena is still a go.
It has been six months since the proposal to build a $325-million, 20,000-seat arena in Markham survived, by a wafer-thin margin, a vote that would have scotched it.
The arena’s proponents have not exactly had their business case bolstered in the interim. The Phoenix Coyotes signed a five-year deal to stay in Glendale, Ariz., after that town’s council decided that paying the team’s new owners to stay was better than not paying them and watching them leave. The New York Islanders agreed to move to Brooklyn. Places that were thought to be next in line for NHL franchises, Quebec City and Seattle, are now being talked about as possible expansion destinations, rather than relocation targets.
Former NHL'er Shawn Burr died.
Shawn Burr never turned out to be the big scorer in the NHL that he was in junior hockey but he was always one of the most popular players with each of his three teams during his 16 years in the league.
“Extremely witty,” said Tampa Bay Lightning general manager Steve Yzerman, who played with Burr on the Detroit Red Wings from 1984 to 1995. “That’s the first thing people would say when you talk about Shawn.”
Burr died Monday night after a fall at his home in St. Clair, Mich. He suffered severe brain trauma after falling down a set of stairs and was taken off life support, Dave Goetze, who runs the Shawn Burr Foundation, told The Detroit Free Press. He was 47.
Do the Coyotes have a chance?
The Phoenix Coyotes' four-year ownership saga is over.
The papers are signed. The NHL has approved the deal. The team's fans, players and front office can finally relax.
"Today is about turning our collective focus to the strong future of the Coyotes here in Arizona and clearly stop talking about ownership questions," Anthony LeBlanc, the Coyotes' new CEO and alternate governor, said Tuesday at Jobing.com Arena.
"It's time to stop talking about arena leases, it's time to stop talking about financing options and where the team will play next year, and to focus on what is important to all of us, and that is what happens on the ice."
Varly is training, there are pics and videos.
It seems like such a long time ago, but a few years back the Washington Capitals would almost always have a Russian on the ice. Not Alex Ovechkin, Alex Semin, Viktor Kozlov, or Sergei Fedorov. It was Semyon Varlamov. At least, when he wasn’t struggling with groin injuries.
Varlamov, who at times looked more like an Olympic gymnast than a traditional NHL goaltender, had the talent to become the franchise’s long-term solution in net. After replacing Jose Theodore and dominating in the 2008-09 playoffs, Varlamov failed to lock down the starting position the next season. Because of injuries.