various not so important news snippets

[fzusher]

I won\'t be able to do the Russian reports as frequently and throughly as I have been in the last little while, so there\'ll be less of those from now on, sadly, especially on following all the preseason friendlies front.

Here\'s some stuff i was able to collect and report quickly.

link

A few weeks ago Dobber mentioned that he has yet to find confirmation Jagr had actually signed more than a letter of intent with Omsk. Well, KHL teams are submitting their official (though not final - they can still make moves) rosters to the league these days, and the link above has Omsk\'s submitted roster on the KHL website. Jagr is listed as no. 68, at the end of the first team list (the second list is of the farm club). Guess that\'s your proof ...


http://www.allhockey.ru/news/34552/

SKA St. Petersburg signed Nils Ekman to a contract until the end of the year (December 31st). However, the club\'s GM says that by mutual agreement Ekman will play until Andreas Johansson returns from his injury roughly two months after the season starts [early November], and will then be released on account of SKA having no open foreigner roster spots. He then confirms the team\'s remaining foreigner roster spot will be taken up by Steve McCarthy (last year in ATL) once a contract, which terms had just been agreed upon, is signed next week. The curious thing is Ekman finished last season with excellent stats in the RSL (22+23 in 61, +26) and yet has not been able to land a full season contract. For those in deep leagues who still own his rights, keep in mind that if he signs with an NHL team after the season starts he will have to clear recall waivers in order to join the team, so another team could get him and pay half his salary.


http://www.allhockey.ru/news/34544/

Interview with Vasily Koshechkin (once highly touted TBL G prospect), who last season left his longtime club Lada Togliatti for AK Bars Kazan, but failed to become the starter there. He is now back in Lada and vows to bounce back. He refuses to talk about what happened in Kazan, saying there was a mutual agreement with management not to discuss the situation in public. Asked about missing the chance to get a WC gold medal with the national team he says he says with confidence that he will win one in the future.

Comment: More than anything, this is for the sake of the GM to whom i traded Kosh during the draft, just so that he can see there\'s hope for Kosh yet ... (I got a 4th and a 5th rounder for him, and used them to draft A J Jenks and Emil Sandin, so I\'m content with that ...)


Looking quickly at other submitted rosters - 6 teams have submitted so far - here\'s the status of some NHL prospects (I only looked at really young ones as an indication of early progress/promise):

Made their big club:

Sergei Gayduchenko (G, FLO - his only competition is a 25 year old goalie entering his 3rd season in the top league and after a horrible season last year, so Gayduchenko could have a real shot at the starter\'s spot)
Alexander Vasyunov (F, NJD)
Alexander Bumagin (F, EDM - his team looks to still be building itself, as they only submitted 16 players out of 25 required at the end of summer, with only 2 foreigners (Magnus Johansson and Esa Pirnes); curiously, they have no goalie listed, which is weird as this is Ray Emery\'s new team; also curiously, this is Nils Ekman\'s team last year)


http://www.chinasharks.com/story.asp?story_id=727

Interesting story about Wade Flaherty signing in the Asian hockey league as player/goalie coach of the China Sharks and goalie coach for the Chinese national team.

[NYR9394]

Good find as always Fzusher. +1.

[The Comish]

Thanks for your efforts fzusher, appreciate the great info whenever you get time.