Faceoff Factor

Russian Related Rumors and a Check on the Rest of the League

Michael Farkas | National Hockey League

Aug 9, 02:43 AM | Hype this story!

The latest updates and hot rumors from around the NHL. Including Oleg Tverdovsky’s big move, Enver Lisin’s status, Paul Martin’s contract negotiations, a Peter Forsberg update and much more. Including the top ten selling jerseys of July 2007 for some reason.

First of all, I probably should be continuing my six-part piece on preseason power rankings. However, with colleague Mike Adams’ productivity on his sequential set of sordid summaries from Penguins’ drafts gone past and gone wrong, I will not compete with that and I’ll go in a different direction tonight. (By the way, read Mike’s draft reviews, they’re great: click here).

Reverse Defection

One of the bigger stories of the day consisted of offensive defenseman Oleg Tverdovsky’s signing in Russia for the coming season (Euro tracker: here). The Los Angeles Kings defenseman signed a five-year contract with HC Salavat Yulayev of the Russian Super League. Which does not seem too out of line for a guy that has been a fringe player in recent years, the problem is, he still has one-year, $2.5 million left on an NHL contract.

The Kings don’t want him back, that was just a salary they took on in order to acquire Jack Johnson from Carolina. The Kings will not have Tverdovsky counting against their cap this season. Here are their options:

The Kings can suspend him for not fulfilling his obligations to his contract. He would not count against their cap this season, technically, however, the Kings would need to keep that amount of cap space available for his impending return. Suspending a player for a full year like this would keep Tverdovsky under contract for 2008-09 as well. So the Kings would essentially have to do this every year before the season starts. Not the best scenario for them.

A much better option and much more likely scenario for the Kings. The Kings can assign him to Manchester (AHL). Tverdovsky, who of course, will not report to a minor league hockey team in North America, will refuse assignment. Tverdovsky will technically be “in the minors” and therefore will not count against the salary cap in any way, shape or form. In addition, since Tverdovsky will never fulfill his duties to report to Manchester the Kings will have grounds to place him on unconditional waivers and then proceed to terminate his contract.

Tverdovsky, according to a recent interview, does not have an NHL release clause in his five-year deal. So, in all likelihood, this is the end of the NHL road for the former second overall selection in 1994.

Lisin-ing to Enver

Hey it’s better than the “Leaving on a Jet Plane” reference I was going to make involving John Denver.

Enver Lisin, the Coyotes second round pick in 2004, said he’s not quite sure if he’s ready to come to North America and pursue his NHL career. Lisin played briefly for the Coyotes last season, but when he was demoted to San Antonio (AHL) for the second time he packed up and went home to Russia. Lisin says he has a nice offer from HC Khimik (RSL) and he’s not sure if he wants to leave Russia at this point in time. The Coyotes will invite him to training camp and they are expecting him to be with the club this season, but Lisin may have other plans.

Considering most of the offseason’s moves have been made, it’s likely that Lisin is thinking about the financial aspect of it and/or the personal aspect of it (i.e. homesickness). He can pretty well gauge his spot on the depth chart at this place and time. It will be a “camp-time” decision for the speed skating Lisin if he wants to try for the NHL this season.

Pokechecks:

New Jersey Devils defenseman Paul Martin is not seeking or accepting any offer sheets. Apparently the hold up relates to whether he wants to sign long-term, or take the one-year deal that would allow him to be an unrestricted free agent this coming summer.

The Ducks, who signed outstanding Swiss goaltender Jonas Hillier for this season, are still shopping goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov despite the notion that Jean Sebastien Giguere may not be ready for opening night after surgery on a sports hernia. The market for goalies in the NHL has plummeted by this point in August.

Apparently Detroit, Colorado, Anaheim, Pittsburgh, Edmonton, Buffalo, Nashville and the Islanders are interested in Peter Forsberg at this point. Based on every thing that Forsberg has said this offseason, he may play for any NHL team or MODO (SEL) and his debut may not even be in the 2007 calendar year. Glad we finally settled that.

Montreal Canadiens captain Saku Koivu admits that he’s a little disappointed the Canadiens weren’t able to land a big name free agent.

Maple Leafs prospect Nikolai Kumelin will be at training camp this September, but will return to Russia for one more season. Jiri Tlusty is going to be given a chance to make the team out of camp this season.

The Leafs and Michael Peca are apparently not coming to terms, it was suggested that Peca could end up as a New York Ranger.

Boston Bruins forward Stanislav Chistov is considering foregoing the final year of his contract with Boston in order to return home to Russia. Also, expect the Bruins to re-sign goaltender Jordan Sigalet very soon.

Thrashers GM Don Waddell on Marian Hossa trade rumors: “Not one NHL team has called. I think I made it clear at the draft: Marian Hossa isn’t anywhere. If Marian Hossa is going some place, Don Waddell better be going with him.”

And just because I have the information in front of me, the top ten selling jerseys of July were:

Sidney Crosby (Penguins)
Daniel Briere (Sabres/Flyers)
Chris Drury (Sabres/Rangers)
Ryan Miller (Sabres)
Thomas Vanek (Sabres)
Peter Forsberg (Predators)
Maxim Afinogenov (Sabres)
Alexander Ovechkin (Capitals)
Jaromir Jagr (Rangers)
Henrik Lundqvist (Rangers)