All Habs Headlines: Wednesday July 1, 2015 — Happy Canada Day!
	On this day in hockey history… 1995 — Quebec Nordiques announced that their franchise would be moving to Denver, Colorado.  2000 — Florida Panthers signed free agent Igor Larionov. 2002 — New York Rangers signed free agent Bobby Holik.  2003 — Philadelphia Flyers signed free agent goaltender Jeff Hackett, who was with the Habs prior to the signing.
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► Montreal atop Frolik’s list

• According to TVA Sports’ Renaud Lavoie free agent winger Michael Frolik has Montreal atop his list of potential landing spots.
• The 27-year old made $3.3 million last season and won’t be looking for a substantial raise in his first time hitting the free agent market. His price range will be anywhere from $3.5-$4.75 million and his term will be most likely four or more years.
• The former 10th overall draft pick is an excellent two-way forward who plays the right side and would form one of the best two way lines in the NHL should he be paired with Max Pacioretty and Tomas Plekanec.
• The 6-foot-2, 192 pound forward has never been the type to put up ridiculous numbers but with back to back 42 point seasons with the Jets he provides great value for his cap hit.
• The only problem is Marc Bergevin only has seven million left in cap space and, barring a trade to alleviate money from the roster, Alex Galchenyuk and Michael Frolik would take all of the cap available stopping Bergevin from making a splash in the trade market.

► Saad a Blue Jacket

• In the largest move of this offseason so far the Chicago Blackhawks dealt 22-year-old forward Brandon Saad to the Columbus Blue Jackets in exchange for Artem Anisimov, Marko Dano, Jeremy Morin, Corey Tropp and a fourth round pick in next year’s draft.
• It was reported by multiple sources that Chicago made the deal because they sensed an offer sheet coming and felt like they couldn’t match it.
• The Jackets have $13.37 million of cap space and will most likely match any offer sheet that comes in for Saad.
• Saad had 52 points in 82 games this year and already has already played 67 playoffs games and has 34 points to go along with his two Cups.
• The Blackhawks are said to be close on an extension with Artem Anisimov.

► Canadiens sign Flynn

• The Canadiens and Brian Flynn have agreed on a contract extension that will pay the American forward $950,000 annually over the next two years.
• Flynn was acquired for a 5th round pick in the 2016 Draft at the trade deadline.
• The former Hobey Baker award finalist had 17 points this season and had three points in six games in his first time in the playoffs.
• He has 42 points in 168 games and is a career minus-9. Flynn spent 4 seasons at the University of Maine and had a point per game or better in three of his four seasons.

► Vejdemo to attend development camp

• In an interview with TSN 690 Canadiens third round pick Lukas Vejdemo confirmed that he will attend development camp that will run from July 4th to 9th.
• Vejdemo still has two years left on a contract with Djurgarden in Sweden. He had 48 points in 34 games in the SuperElite league and was the Playoff MVP with six points in seven games. He also had the highest plus-minus in the league with plus-28.
• He is a smooth skating, talented forward as these highlights demonstrate:

• In other Habs development camp news, fifth round pick Matthew Bradley from the Medicine Hat Tigers will also attend along with teammate Dryden Hunt. Bradley, a centre, had 17 goals and 23 assists for 40 points in 71 games last season. Hunt, a left-winger, split the season between Regina and Medicine Hat picking up 33 goals and 50 assists for 83 points in 71 games.

Just spoke to Matt Bradley, who confirmed Dryden Hunt will be joining him at #Habs prospect camp. Markus Eisenschmid still a question mark.

— Ryan Flaherty (@RFlahertypxp) June 30, 2015

► Coyotes moving to Vegas?

• The New York Post is reporting that the NHL is preparing to broker a sale of the Arizona Coyotes to billionaire William Foley. The Post goes on to say that Foley will move the Coyotes to Las Vegas for the 2016-17 season.
• MGM Resorts is set to open a 20,000 seat arena in spring 2016.
• The NHL denied the story.
• Applications for expansion franchises are being accepted from July 6 to August 10.

► 2015 HHOF candidates

• The Hockey Hall of Fame inductee class for 2015 was announced on Monday. The induction ceremony will be held at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto on November 9th.
• Arizona Coyotes defenceman Chris Pronger was one of those selected in the Player category. Pronger has one Norris trophy, a Hart, and a Stanley Cup in a very illustrious career.
• Nicklas Lidstrom won four Stanley cup with the Red Wings in his 20 seasons in the NHL. He won the Norris trophy seven times and has the NHL record for NHL games played by a European with 1,564.
• Phil Housley is the second leading scorer behind Mike Modano for U.S.-born players in the NHL with 338 goals, 894 assists and 1,232 points. He was the runner up for the Calder in 1984 and the runner up for the Norris in 1992.
• Sergei Fedorov is a 3-time Stanley cup champion and won the Hart and the Lester B. Pearson Award in 1993-94. He played 13 seasons in the NHL and had 100+ point seasons in two of them.
• Angela Ruggiero was ranked the top female defenceman in the world in 2003 and was a member of the 1998 Gold Medal Olympic USA team, the first year women’s hockey was put into the Olympics.
• Peter Karmanos Jr. was selected in the Builder category. He bought the Hartford Whalers in 1994 and moved them to Carolina; he won a Cup with the team in 2006. He was a part of the making of players such as Pat LaFontaine, Al Iafrate, Mike Modano, Eric Lindros and Kevin Hatcher.
• Bill Hay will be admitted into the Hall as well. He was the president and COO of Hockey Canada for five years at the end of his hockey career and won a Stanley Cup in 1961. He received an offer from the St Louis Blues to become the leagues’ highest paid player in 1967 when he was retired, he turned down the offer.

Congrats to @philhousley6 for getting into the #HHOF! Nice reaction! Nice work! @PredsNHL @NHL pic.twitter.com/9vK4OHd16x

— Karin Housley (@KarinHousley) June 29, 2015

► Buyouts galore

• Buyouts are coming fast and furious in preparation for July 1st and the latest victims are players with loads of talent.
• Cody Hodgson, Alexander Semin, Victor Stalberg and Brad Boyes all cleared unconditional waivers on Wednesday and have been bought out.
• Hodgson will be paid $791,666 over the next eight years; he had only 12 points last season and is a combined minus-54 in the past two seasons.
• Semin will be paid $14 million over the next six years. Semin was signed to a one year $7 million contract before singing a long term extension with the ‘Canes that paid him $35 million over five years. He had 19 points in 57 games this season.
• Stalberg’s buyout will cost the Predators $4.67 million over the next four years, he had 10 points in 25 games this season. When he cleared waivers earlier this season he had 17 points in 20 games in the AHL.
• In the most unforeseen move of the day the Florida Panthers bought out the final year of Brad Boyes’ contract and will have a cap hit of $833,333 in the next two seasons. Boyes was only being paid $2.5 million this season and has only missed eight games in the past three season. He is one of the best players in the shootout.

► NHL trades, signings, terminations and injury news

• The Calgary Flames signed defenceman Dougie Hamilton to a six-year contract extension worth $5.75 million annually. It was reported that the Bruins offered Hamilton $5.5 million and they couldn’t get a deal done so he was traded. According to Elliotte Friedman the Flames wanted the deal to be an eight years and Hamilton wanted a five year extension.
• The Anaheim Ducks acquired defenseman Kevin Bieksa from the Vancouver Canucks in exchange for a 2016 second round pick.
• The Winnipeg Jets resigned forward Drew Stafford to a two-year deal worth $8.7 million. Stafford was acquired this past trade deadline for, among others, Evander Kane.
• The Boston Bruins flipped goaltender Martin Jones whom they had acquired earlier this week in the Milan Lucic trade. Jones was sent to the San Jose Sharks in exchange for a first round pick in the 2016 draft along with unsigned forward prospect Sean Kuraly.
• The LA Kings have terminated the contract of forward Mike Richards due to a material breach of his contract. The Kings are not commenting at this time on what the transgression was at this time however they were informed about it during the draft. This means Richards’ contract will not count against the cap. Expect the NHLPA to fight the termination in court. TMZ is reporting that Richards was questioned at the Canadian border about oxycodone pills, a powerful painkiller.
• Pavel Datsyuk had ankle surgery this week and could miss the beginning of the season. He will be out a reported 4-6 weeks. The injury is the reason the Red Wings did not buy out the contract of centreman Stephen Weiss.
• The Boston Bruins acquired grinder Zac Rinaldo in exchange for a 3rd round pick in the 2017 draft. Rinaldo scored one goal last season to go along with 102 penalty minutes; he has 24 career NHL points.
• The Tampa Bay Lightning signed 6-foot-8 defenceman Andrej Sustr to a two year contract extension that will pay the 23-year old $2.9 million.
• The San Jose Sharks signed defenceman Brendan Dillon to a 5-year contract with an average annual value of $3.27 million.
• Jacob Markstrom and the Vancouver Canucks agreed on a contract that is for two years with an average annual value of $1.55 million.
• Jay Beagle signed a 3-year worth $5.25 million with the Washington Capitals.
• The Chicago Blackhawks signed defenceman David Rundblad to a two year extension worth $1 million annually.
• The Pittsburgh Penguins put restricted free agent Ian Cole under contract. The deal will pay the defenceman $2.1 million over three years.
• After being acquired for the 193rd pick in this year’s draft, goaltender Antti Niemi has signed a 3 year contract extension that has an average annual value of $4.5 million.
• The Detroit Red Wings signed defenceman Brendan Smith to a two year deal worth $2.75 million per season.

► Souray bids farewell

Seems like yesterday!!! I'm going to enjoy my last day today on an @NHL roster!! #whataride @NHLDevils https://t.co/6BAWBF4a4D

— Sheldon Souray (@SSouray) June 30, 2015

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