KHL Clubs Want Sykora And Satan
Matt Bodenschatz | Pittsburgh Penguins
Jun 17, 11:01 AM | Hype this story!
Update: the reports are untrue, according to player agent Allan Walsh, who represents both Sykora and Satan.
Per his Twitter feed:
“I was informed of internet report Petr Sykora negotiating with Magnitogorsk (KHL) for last 4 wks. Totally false. There has been no contact.”
Also, informed of report that Miro Satan received 2 year offer from Bary’s Astana (KHL). Again, no truth. Who makes up this stuff?
Read the rest for entertainment purposes only.
Wasting no time after the Pittsburgh Penguins’ Stanley Cup victory, two Kontinental Hockey League clubs have expressed interest in some of their players.
According to Russia Today, Metallurg Magnitogorsk has made a pitch for winger Petr Sykora, while Barys Astana wants winger Miroslav Satan. Both players are impending free agents and will be free to choose their destination (NHL or otherwise) beginning July 1.
Sykora was benched for a good portion of the playoffs before breaking his foot in his return during Game Six of the Finals, leading many to believe a return to Pittsburgh is unlikely.
Per the web site, Sykora’s agent said “the team is not going to offer him a new agreement.”
It should be noted that Sykora spent time during the NHL lockout playing for Magnitogorsk, which also happens to be the former team of Conn Smythe winner Evgeni Malkin. It is believed the team also is pursuing NHL veteran Sergei Fedorov, who is an impending free agent as well.
Satan spend most of the season with the Penguins, but was demoted to the AHL at the time of the NHL trade deadline to clear salary cap space for newly-acquired winger Bill Guerin. Satan returned for the playoffs and eventually found himself making an impact, scoring one goal and five assists in the playoffs while taking occasional shifts with Malkin and Sidney Crosby.
The contract offered to Satan by Astana reportedly is worth $6 million over two years.
He, too, is not likely to receive a contract offer from the Penguins.
Comments
btumpak
Jun 17, 11:15 AM
These reports are not true –
via their agent on twitter: http://twitter.com/walsha
Mike Adams
Jun 17, 11:28 AM
That’s a shame, I was kind of hoping they would be. I have no desire to see them in black and gold next year. Happy trails, boys.
Matt Bodenschatz
Jun 17, 11:33 AM
@btumpak, thanks for the heads-up. I have updated the story with the new information.
@Mike, regardless of their status with the KHL, I highly doubt either will be back unless they take an extremely small contract ($1 million-ish) — which seems unlikely.
My guess is both are seeking roughly $2 million per year on the free market, and with NHL and KHL teams potentially in the bidding, they’ll likely get at least that much.
TheOneAndOnlySurge
Jun 17, 11:37 AM
Ok, for one they can’t even spell the names right. That should completely invalidate anything they have to say.
Matt Bodenschatz
Jun 17, 11:55 AM
Haha, this is true. However, in my defense, I have seen several Russian media outlets refer to Sykora as “Sikora.” And, since Continental is spelled “Kontinental,” I figured it was a pattern. But, really, the two spellings of Sykora in the same article was not a good sign.
Apologies on my part — twas just trying to provide some information.
Mike Adams
Jun 17, 11:57 AM
@Matt,
Faceoff Factor motto on rumors: We Report, You Decide lol.
Matt Bodenschatz
Jun 17, 12:00 PM
@Mike, “We don’t spread rumors – we talk hockey” is now gone. It’s been replaced with “Welcome Home, Lord Stanley!”
In other words, look for a report in the next hour from an anonymous source telling me the NHL has decided to allow the Penguins to ignore the salary cap so they can sign Marian Hossa, Marian Gaborik and Jay Bouwmeester.
For those not catching the sarcasm, this is not true.
Detective Dan
Jun 17, 01:14 PM
Useless trivia, the reason it is the Kontinental and not Continental is because the C in the Russian Cyrillic alphabet a C makes an S sound.
Matt Bodenschatz
Jun 17, 01:22 PM
@Dan, that was useless…but I like it, haha
Ben Schmidt
Jun 17, 02:19 PM
Whoa. Looking over the twitter for Allan Walsh, he certainly represents a fair number of Pens. Also interesting? He represents a number of players who wanted to become Penguins via free agency (i.e., Sykora, Satan, Fedotenko). Given how smoothly most of the negotiations seem to have gone with most of his clients, he doesn’t seem to be a hardline agent along the lines of Rich Winter, either.
Makes me wonder who else he might represent that might have him making calls this summer, though :)
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