NHL - News

New Jersey - Jiri Tlusty agreed to terms on a one-year contract worth $800,000 on Wednesday. Selected by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the first round (No. 13) of the 2006 NHL Draft, Tlusty, 27, had 14 goals and 31 points in 72 games with the Carolina Hurricanes and Winnipeg Jets last season. He had NHL career highs of 23 goals and 38 points in 48 games in 2012-13, and has 87 goals and 173 points in 416 NHL games.

Forwards Tyler Kennedy and Lee Stempniak each will attend Devils training camp on a professional tryout offer. Kennedy, 29, had six goals and 14 points in 38 regular-season games with the San Jose Sharks and New York Islanders last season. He has 86 goals, 199 points and 225 penalty minutes in eight NHL seasons. Stempniak, 32, had 15 goals and 13 assists in 71 regular-season games with the New York Rangers and Winnipeg Jets last season. He has 165 goals, 369 points and 253 penalty minutes in 10 NHL seasons.

Chicago - Blackhawks right wing Patrick Kane is among the players listed on the team's 2015 training camp roster, which was released Wednesday. Kane is the subject of a police investigation and a grand jury in Hamburg, N.Y., a suburb of Buffalo. The Blackhawks will hold the first part of camp at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind. Players arrive Thursday and will take the ice for the first time Friday. Blackhawks president John McDonough, general manager Stan Bowman and coach Joel Quenneville are expected to address the media Thursday. Kane, 26, won the Stanley Cup for the third time in June as Chicago defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning in six games. Kane had 64 points in 61 games during the regular season and was tied with Tyler Johnson of the Lightning for the scoring lead during the Stanley Cup Playoffs with 23 points in 23 games.

Colorado - Defenseman Andrej Meszaros and forward Jack Skille will join the Avalanche on a professional tryout deal, the club revealed after releasing its training camp roster on Wednesday. Meszaros, a 6-foot-2, 223-pound rear guard, has played in 645 NHL contests during his 10-year career. He spent 2014-15 with the Buffalo Sabres where he recorded 14 points (seven goals and seven assists) in 60 games. The left-handed blueliner was picked 23rd overall by the Ottawa Senators in the 2004 Entry Draft and played his first three years in the league with the club. A native of Povazska Bystrica, Slovakia, Meszaros has also played with the Tampa Bay Lightning, Philadelphia Flyers and Boston Bruins. He has represented his country at the last three Winter Olympic Games (2006, 2010, 2014) and played for Slovakia at the 2015 World Championship, recording four points (three goals and one assist) in seven games.Brooklyn - The New York Islanders on Thursday traded forward Michael Grabner to the Toronto Maple Leafs for five players. Going to the Islanders are forwards Carter Verhaeghe and Taylor Beck, defensemen Tom Nilsson and Matthew Finn, and goaltender Christopher Gibson. Grabner, 27, was limited to 34 games last season because of injuries; he missed the first two months of the season recovering from surgery to repair a sports hernia sustained during preseason. He had eight goals and 13 points in the regular season and played in two Stanley Cup Playoff games. Grabner is entering the final season of a five-year contract with a salary-cap charge of $3 million. He can become an unrestricted free agent after the season. In six seasons with the Vancouver Canucks and Islanders, Grabner has 95 goals and 155 points in 317 games. His best season was 2010-11, when he had 34 goals and 52 points in 76 games with the Islanders. Of the players acquired by the Islanders, only Beck played in the NHL last season. The 24-year-old left wing had eight goals and 16 points in 62 games with the Nashville Predators. The Maple Leafs had acquired Beck in a trade with the Predators on July 12. Verhaeghe, 20, had 33 goals and 82 points in 68 games with the Niagara IceDogs of the Ontario Hockey League last season. Nilsson, 22, had six points in 44 games with the Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League. Finn, 21, split last season between the Marlies and the Orlando Solar Bears of the ECHL; in 28 AHL games he had one goal and two assists. Gibson, 22, went 24-17-3 with a 2.42 goals-against average and .921 save percentage in 45 games with the Marlies.
The Islanders unveiled a third jersey this week that marks their first season in Brooklyn, which begins at Barclays Center on Oct. 9 against the Chicago Blackhawks. The jersey is black with white trim and white numbers that includes a large "NY" from the Islanders' secondary logo on the crest with four orange lines through the "Y" representing their Stanley Cup championships. There is a small "B" on each side of the uniform to represent Brooklyn. The pants and gloves are black, and there is a "NY" logo on the left pant leg of each uniform.

The helmets have a "BKLYN" logo, and the jerseys (along with every jersey they wear this season) have patches for their first season in Brooklyn on the right sleeve. There is another patch reading "AL" on the left sleeve to honor Al Arbour, the Hall of Fame coach who led the Islanders to the Stanley Cup four times and passed away in August. The Islanders will debut the jerseys Nov. 3 against the New Jersey Devils and wear them for 12 games during the regular season.

Los Angeles - Slava Voynov intends to return to Russia and the defenseman no longer will play for the Kings, his agent and the team said in separate statements Wednesday. Voynov was suspended indefinitely by the NHL after his arrest on felony domestic violence charges on Oct. 20. He entered a no-contest plea to a single misdemeanor, domestic violence charge on July 2. Voynov served a 90-day sentence and afterward was taken into custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The 25-year-old played 190 regular-season NHL games for the Kings; he had 18 goals and 63 assists (81 points), and was plus-23. He won the Stanley Cup twice (2012 and 2014), and had nine goals and 16 assists in 64 Stanley Cup Playoff games. He had four seasons remaining on a six-year, $25 million contract that began in 2013-14, an annual NHL salary-cap charge of $4.17 million. Voynov had surgery in April to repair a torn Achilles tendon.
Agent Rolland Hedges released the following statement on behalf of Voynov:
"Earlier today, I notified the National Hockey League, the National Hockey League Players' Association and the Los Angeles Kings of my decision to immediately begin the formal process of returning to Russia with my family. I sincerely apologize to those in and around the game of hockey, who have been affected by my situation, and I also wish the Players of the LA Kings success in the future."
"During this period of detention, the Los Angeles Kings decided he would no longer play for the team. The method by which we would ensure this outcome was something we carefully considered and we established a deadline of Sept. 17, the beginning of our 2015-16 training camp, to reach this outcome. Recently it became evident to us that our conclusion to this process would be to terminate Mr. Voynov's Standard Player's Contract. However, Mr. Voynov's announcement today of his intention to leave the United States and return to Russia makes the termination unnecessary. As we have publicly stated since Mr. Voynov's arrest last year, the Kings organization will not tolerate domestic violence. As part of that commitment, we will soon announce a series of new Conduct Awareness Training Initiatives that reflect the values and principles central to our franchise." the Kings said in a statement.

Detroit - Red Wings center Pavel Datsyuk was in Traverse City, Mich., for the first day of Red Wings training camp on Thursday, but he won't be on the ice any time soon. Datsyuk had ankle surgery June 26. He told the Detroit Free Press that he has an appointment with the surgeon next week for a checkup.
As for what comes next in his recovery. In an interview with a Russian television station, Datsyuk said he expected to need four to five months to return to action, which means he could be out until November. Datsyuk, 37, had 26 goals and 65 points in 63 games last season.
"When I see [the surgeon], probably he let me know. I'm not guessing. I am just waiting to hear from professional when I can start skating, and then we see. Day by day." Datsyuk said.Washington - It certainly is reasonable to think Derek Roy could earn a spot with the Capitals. There is a need for more center depth in the bottom-six forward group. Roy has bounced around a lot (the Capitals would be his sixth team since the 2012-13 season), but he's only 32 years old and still has some offensive upside. He had 32 points in 72 games last season split between the Edmonton Oilers and Nashville Predators. He had 37 points in 75 games with the St. Louis Blues in 2013-14. Fehr, as the Capitals' third-line center last season, had 33 points in 75 games. Roy's production would fall right in line with Fehr's. The difference is Roy doesn't play the penalty kill. Fehr averaged 1:23 of ice time on the PK last season.
Andre Burakovsky is the most interesting player to consider because the Capitals have to determine if he is going to be a center or a wing for them this season. He's a natural center, as general manager Brian MacLellan has said, and most likely would be fit for the 2C role, but it appears that right now is Evgeny Kuznetsov's to lose. Burakovsky might play the 2C role at the start of the season if Backstrom isn't ready because he's still recovering from offseason hip surgery, but once Backstrom is back it lines up to be him at 1C and Kuznetsov at 2C. Is Burakovsky the 3C, or is he the left wing on Kuznetsov's line? I think he's a top-six player. The Capitals think so too. He should be in the top-six regardless of position. That leaves the potential for Roy to make the team as the 3C with Jay Beagle as the 4C and Michael Latta either on the wing or an extra center. Brooks Laich is also an option at center or wing.
The Capitals might just have the team around Ovechkin to contend for the Stanley Cup this season. I like the coaching philosophy, the style of play, the commitment from the players, the depth up front, the consistency that you have to expect from the defense corps, and the elite goaltending they should again receive from Braden Holtby. All the ingredients look good in Washington now.