There are a few notable pieces of NHL news to get two. A couple of players are dealing with injuries. A couple of players have gotten new contracts. Intrigued? How could you not be? I am the master of suspense! Anyway, here's the news.
Patrick Sharp often gets lost in the shuffle of Chicago. Granted, he's not as good as Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, or even Marian Hossa, but he's still a really good player. He scored 34 goals and 71 points last season in 74 games, and he's scored at least 25 goals the past four seasons. Now, the Blackhawks have rewarded him with a five year extension for his efforts.
The deal doesn't kick in until after this season, in which Sharp will make $4.2 million. His new deal will evidently pay him $5.9 million for the next few years, but the excellent resource that is NHLNumbers.com doesn't have any information beyond that. Considering how good he is, that seems reasonable for at least a few years. However, he is 29, so by the end of this extension he is going to be heading into the twilight of his career. Still, the Blackhawks have managed to lock up another of their key pieces, and they can probably thank the Panthers a bit for that.
In other news, Shea Weber's arbitration case has been settled, and his deal is reportedly for $7.5 million. Hey, guess whose got the biggest cap hit amongst defenseman in the NHL now? Granted, Weber is one of the best defenseman in the league, so he deserves to be paid as such. However, certainly better defensemen are getting less money, but deals tend to increase over time, and guys like Nick Lidstrom take less money in order to save cap space for their team.
The Predators will have Weber for one more season it would seem. The question is, what will happen next season? Weber will be a restricted free agent again. Will they go to arbitration once more? Will they hammer out a long term deal? Or will the Predators end up saying goodbye to their best player?
Ryan Kesler is coming off a career year, but now he will also be coming off hip surgery. Kesler is expected to miss 10 to 12 weeks after his operation. Twelve weeks would take Kesler through late October, which means he'd miss some of the regular season. Kesler was great last season, and not having him for any amount of time would hurt the Canucks. However, they have the talent to weather the storm if need be. As long as Kesler is there once the playoffs role around, the Canucks will be Cup contenders again.
David Perron will definitely miss the start of the regular season, as he still deals with concussion issues. The really unfortunate thing here is that Perron's concussion happened November 4 of last year, and he missed 72 games last season from it. This is a real shame. Perron is a good player who could really help the Blues. He's only 23, and his career could genuinely be in jeopardy. Hopefully he can put these concussions issues behind him and play at some point this season.
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