Now It's Official

The man to the left, heralded in his junior hockey days with the Quebec Remparts for his scoring ability, has been across the continent and back before landing in Russia only to have finally returned to North America in April after signing a deal with the Columbus Blue Jackets. Mikhail Grigorenko was supposed to be added to the Blue Jackets' roster for the 2020-21 season following his KHL contract ending, and everything seemed like it was going to plan. The only problem? That contract was voided by the NHL after finding that the signing date had violated a clause in the Collective Bargaining Agreement as the contract didn't include the 2019-20 season. As a result, Grigorenko was still a free agent and the Blue Jackets were still wooing him to join the team.

With the deal in April having been terminated by the NHL, both Grigorenko and the Blue Jackets agreed to honour the original one-year, $1.2 million deal with the CBA allowed for the signing to officially take place. Today, that period of time to sign free agents opened up as per the CBA, and the Blue Jackets made it officially - again - by signing Grigorenko to the one-year deal.

It will be an interesting look at how Grigorenko has grown since last suiting up with the Colorado Avalanche in 2016-17. The 26 year-old spent the last three seasons with CSKA Moscow in the KHL where he had 46 goals and 116 points over 147 games. While he's not coming in as the Russian Connor McDavid by any means, there is hope from the Blue Jackets side that the older Grigorenko might be able to pick his spots offensively while playing a solid defensive game.

Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekalainen reiterated what he liked about Grigorenko's game in Russia on Monday.

"He's just getting into his prime as a player," Kekalainen said on April 20. "We've watched him the last couple of years and have had interest in him the last couple of years. And he's improved. But time will tell on the North American side. We do believe in his potential. We do think he has a lot of those ingredients that will make a player successful over here."

Whatever the Blue Jackets saw in Grigorenko must have been something more than what both Buffalo and Colorado saw in his where he amassed just 64 points in 217 NHL games. Perhaps what Kekalainen liked most was Grigorenko's versatility in a lineup where he can play almost any forward position.

"He's a left shot," Kekalainen stated, "but he can play right side, left side and center. He plays special teams. He's a power-play player. We're going to see where he can fit in."

Where ever he slots into the lineup will be up to head coach John Tortorella, but the risk of signing a player who never reached his potential with two teams is low when considering the dollar amount attached to Grigorenko's contract. If Tortorella can squeeze more than 27 points out of him - currently Grigorenko's career-high in any NHL season - this should be considered a win for the Blue Jackets with respect to the return on investment.

If Grigorenko can't adapt to John Tortorella's demand of hard work and effort, the length of the contract doesn't hurt the Blue Jackets long-term either as Grigorenko can be cut loose next summer. For an NHL player who came in with big promise, heading to his third team before the age of 30 doesn't look to appealing to future suitors unless he can show NHL teams that he's made changes to his game and his old habits.

It's official as of today: Mikhail Grigorenko is a member of the Columbus Blue Jackets for the 2020-21 season. It will be entirely up to him to determine if he's there longer, and he can make that happen through hard work, scoring, and sound defensive play.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

No Kiwi Hockey This Year

If there's one country who has done perhaps the best job concerning the pandemic within its own borders, it might be New Zealand. New Zealand has re-opened its country domestically after recording zero new cases weeks ago and the last case being treated had recovered. To say that they did well might be an understatement when comparing the island nation to other nations around the world. The one thing they haven't done is opened its borders yet which has kept their case numbers at zero, and it seems that decision is a wise one despite it affecting their national hockey teams.

It was announced on Thursday that the New Zealand national U20 men's hockey team and the New Zealand national U18 women's team would be withdrawing from their respective 2021 IIHF World Hockey Championships due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, the IIHF Division-III U20 World Championship in Mexico City, Mexico, scheduled for January 10-17, 2021, will only feature seven teams while the IIHF Division-II Group B U18 Women's World Championship in Kocaeli, Turkey, scheduled for January 28-31, 2021, will now only have four teams participating.

New Zealand's two national teams are the first to cancel events in 2021, and it speaks to the efforts the country made in reducing their coronavirus outbreak to zero. By keeping their players at home, New Zealand has removed any need to open its borders to international travel once again, and that's a major factor when reducing the spread the virus as this decision prevents these New Zealand players from returning with the virus once their tournaments end.

There were other factors that the New Zealand Ice Hockey Federation Management Committee highlighted in their statement, and they included limited travel options with international flights cancelled and the respective costs of booking flights on the few planes in the air, a lack of insurance for its players to protect them from COVID-19 in case they were to contract the virus, and quarantine time for players and the efforts needed to quarantine and clean all equipment after each use. In other words, it just didn't make sense.

NZIHF President Andy Mills did confirm in the statement "that no decision has been made as of yet regarding the remaining teams - U18 Men's, Senior Men's (Ice Blacks) and Senior Women's (Ice Fernz) - participating in their respective tournaments". The senior men's team is scheduled to compete in Reykjavik, Iceland in the 2021 Men's Ice Hockey Division-II Group B World Championships from April 18-24, 2021; the U18 men's team is scheduled to play in Kockelscheuer, Luxembourg at the 2021 U18 Division-III Group B World Championship from March 27-April 3, 2021; and, the senior women's team is slated to play in Zagreb, Croatia in the 2021 Women's Ice Hockey Division-II Group B World Championships from March 7-13, 2021.

While it would seem sacrilegious for Canada to even consider something like cancelling international hockey events, New Zealand's efforts to prevent any further coronavirus outbreaks has been outstanding which very well should be the model that the rest of the world follows when it comes to handling this virus. We saw Canada make the difficult decision to cancel the IIHF Women's World Championship in Nova Scotia this past year, and this might be something that the organizing committee wants to look into as countries may consider their participation in these upcoming tournaments.

Cancelling these teams' participation in international competitions may seem, in the short-term, like the wrong decision when it comes to growth and development of these players, but this is a bigger issue than 40 players missing out on some international travel and a few hockey games. In order to keep New Zealand's total cases at zero, sacrifices have to be made for the good of that country's population through some difficult decisions, but the end result will be that the country, in the long-term, will be better off for it.

Honestly, that seems like a fair trade-off it you ask me.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

More Opt Out

With the new NHL-NHLPA deal to restart this season, NHL players have until Monday at 11:59pm ET to decide whether or not they'll take part in the NHL playoffs when the games resume in August. We've already seen Calgary's Travis Hamonic opt out for a very good reason, and now three more players have informed their clubs that they won't be participating either as Edmonton's Mike Green, Boston's Steve Kampfer, Dallas' Roman Polak, Pittsburgh's Zach Trotman, Montreal's Karl Alzner, and Vancouver's Sven Baertschi have all confirmed they won't be attending the hub cities as well.

Mike Green cited family reasons for his decision in the same manner that Hamonic did.

"Due to the uncertainties surrounding COVID-19 and after much consideration, I've decided for deeply personal family health reasons, not to participate in the return to play," Green said in a statement. "This has been a hard decision knowing I’m going to miss the opportunity to compete in the playoffs with a Stanley Cup contender. I wish the best of luck to the guys and I appreciate the Edmonton Oilers support."

Mike and his wife, Courtney, have four year-old Axel, their son, and seven month-old Luca, their daughter, at home, and I imagine that neither of Mike or Courtney want to risk not only their own health, but the health of their children in any way to this virus. Again, I fully respect any player who puts the health and wellness of their family ahead of the personal gain in winning a Stanley Cup, so Mike Green has my full support in his decision. Well done, Mike.

Roman Polak's decision not to rejoin the Dallas Stars has been known for a while now as he announced back in June that he had no desire to return to the NHL when it decided to start up again. He made that official today by informing the Dallas Stars that he's not coming back.

Polak's time in the NHL may be done entirely after this as the big defender signed a three-year deal with HC Vitkovice in the Czech Extraliga in June, and his contract with the Stars will end once the 2019-20 season has concluded. The 34 year-old former Blues, Leafs, Sharks, and Stars defenceman has 26 goals and 114 assists in 806 NHL contests.

"I am already determined to stay at home," Polak told Pavel Barta of sport.cz in June. "If I really had to finish the NHL, I would go. But I will do everything to make it unnecessary. I will definitely be here next season."

Sven Baertschi's opting out might be more of a case of circumstances as the Swiss-born forward had asked for a trade out of Vancouver prior to the shutdown after having spent most of this season with the AHL's Utica Comets. While Baertschi cited family reasons as the reason for his decision, one would have to think that Baertschi would opt to spend time with his family as opposed to being a black ace for the Canucks while sequestered inside his hotel room.

"Sven informed us late yesterday that he has chosen to opt out of the NHL return to play program," Canucks general manager Jim Benning said. "It was a difficult decision but ultimately one we respect and understand."

Baertschi had been skating with the Canucks in Vancouver as part of the Phase 2 plan, but it seems that he opted for family time over pressbox time with his decision after being one of three extra skaters that the Canucks invited to camp to begin preparations for the restart. I don't fault Baertschi for prioritizing his family over pressbox popcorn at all.

Steven Kampfer made the decision to not rejoin the Bruins in this year's restart after assessing his family's health and the risk that contracting the virus may put on them. Tara, his wife, and their son both have congenital heart defects, as Steven revealed, and his decision was a direct result of how the virus may affect them if he were to contract it.

Steven wrote via Twitter,

"After speaking with my wife, family and my agent I have decided that I am opting out of their return to play. This was one of the hardest decisions I've ever had to make. My wife and son have a congenital heart defect which can cause complications with COVID-19. We have taken this very seriously. Family will always be my priority."

Like Hamonic, this decision should never be questioned. While it was expected that Kampfer might play a larger role for the Bruins in the playoffs, his choice to put family ahead of the game is why he'll always have my respect. Well done, Steve.

Zach Trotman informed the Pittsburgh Penguins he won't be playing in Toronto after he opted out of the restart. Trotman suffers from asthma, so this seems like a very well-informed decision. It should also be noted that Trotman's wife is expecting their first baby, so Trotman likely wants to be there for that moment as well. Either way, this decision by Trotman seems like a very family-oriented decision based on that knowledge.

"We don't get into injuries but it's something that he's trying to work through that could flare when we get into the 'bubble,'" Penguins GM Jim Rutherford said during a conference call with local reporters on Saturday. "And we didn't want to take that chance."

It seems weird that a basic injury could "flare" when in the bubble after Trotman has been skating in Pittsburgh already, so it sounds like it might be more of a precautionary measure that Trotman is taking. Again, I have no issue with players looking after themselves or their families when it comes to health and safety so this seems like the right preventative move if that's the underlying reason for keeping Trotman off the postseason roster.

In saying that, it also sounds like Rutherford will skip the trip to Toronto as the 71 year-old is in that "high-risk" category for the virus. This also seems like the right move, although there's less need for NHL general managers to be in any building at this point in the season. Good on Rutherford for looking out for his health on this one, though.

The last player who has opted out thus far is Montreal Canadiens defenceman Karl Alzner. The Canadiens didn't provide a reason for Alzner's decision, but I suspect that playing with the AHL's Laval Rocket for the majority of this season would have something to do with it. Alzner likely would have sat in the pressbox for the Canadiens, so it sounds like the 31 year-old defender opted for family time over pressbox popcorn like Baertschi did.

Needless to say, the list of players opting out is growing, and it seems that the majority of these players have very good reasons to not risk their own health or the health of their families by playing. It makes little sense for anyone at this stage to put their health at risk after knowing what this virus can do internally to people, so let's take nothing away from these players with these decisions and hold nothing against them for protecting the ones they love.

They'll return to the ice when it's safe to do so. That's the most important part of this equation.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Priorities Matter

As you may have heard, the NHL will officially be returning in August to the cities of Edmonton and Toronto to conclude the 2019-20 season in whatever way possible. While I still think the bubble idea in these cities has far too many variables for the NHL to control, it seems they're pretty confident that the Stanley Cup can be awarded to whatever team makes it that far with enough players who can avoid contracting the virus. One player who won't be on the ice, however, is the man pictured to the left as Calgary Flames defenceman Travis Hamonic has made the decision to not resume playing this season in order to protect his family's health. Before you start ripping on the guy like some already have on social media, there's a very good reason for Hamonic's decision and it's one that I fully support.

The other people pictured in the image above are Travis's wife, Stephanie, and his infant daughter, Charlie. In saying that, Travis is a deeply-committed family man after having asked for a trade to be closer to family in 2015 when he was with the Islanders. While we all know that being a hockey player's wife in the NHL means the suitcases never truly are put into storage, this request had everything to do with Hamonic wanting to be closer to family and zero to do with wanting off Long Island.

"I probably wouldn't want to get into more detail," he told reporters at the time, "but I think the Islanders have been great with me throughout this whole process. I know people are going to say and write what they want and all that stuff, but it has nothing to do with the organization or how I've been treated here six years as playing and another two or three since I've been drafted. I've been honestly treated like gold from the start."

In late June of 2017 despite having rescinded his ask for a trade, Hamonic was traded to the Calgary Flames, and he, his wife, and young daughter moved back to western Canada. The fit seemed perfect for both sides - Hamonic was closer to family and the Flames got themselves a reliable defenceman who could play big minutes in all situations. Things seemed to be going well, and the couple even welcomed their son to the family as Travis was trying to help the Flames win the Stanley Cup.

Everything almost came to a screeching halt in January 2019, though, when Charlie, the Hamonic's daughter and eight months old at the time, became seriously ill with a serious respiratory issue. Travis left the team and joined Stephanie at their daughter's bedside as doctors at the Alberta Children's Hospital worked to bring Charlie back to good health, and I'm happy to report that Charlie has recovered.

However, that moment was anything but easy for Travis and Stephanie.

"Everything goes out the window," Hamonic said. "My wife and I haven't left her side, we've been sitting in the room with her 24/7 and we probably won't leave her side, even when she's 50. We play a game for a living and it's my job and I take my job seriously. But my daughter is the most important focal point in my life."

Did you catch that last sentence - "my daughter is the most important focal point in my life"? Now you know why Travis Hamonic is opting out of coming back to play hockey in August. The risk of contracting a virus that wreaks havoc on people's respiratory systems is a risk that's just too high for Travis and Stephanie Hamonic with respect to their daughter's health. Playoffs would be meaningless if anything happened to his daughter, and Hamonic made that statement loud and clear with his decision today.

I fully and completely respect his decision not to return, and I will defend his decision from anyone who believes he's made the wrong decision. This is entirely the right choice by him as it shows that family, not hockey and not the Stanley Cup, is the one thing that drives Travis Hamonic. No one will ever deny that he wants to win, but he seems to be fairly grounded in knowing that there will be much bigger wins and so much more to celebrate in his future with his daughter, son, and wife remaining safe and healthy than what the Stanley Cup will bring this season.

To me, that already makes Travis Hamonic a champion, and to question his heart or his character after making this decision to protect his "home" team makes me wonder how some of these social media warriors can face themselves in their mirrors. Hamonic's family will always be there for him just as he'll always be there for them, and that's the team he's chosen to put ahead of all others. And, honestly, rightfully so.

If I needed a person to inspire me, Travis Hamonic would be that person. His devotion to his family and his unwavering character to make a decision that a lot of players wouldn't make tells me that he'll always be a champion because he already wears a ring that means more to him than any other: his wedding ring. He and his teammate in life, Stephanie, are raising two little teammates who will bring them joy, tears, happiness, and laughter for a lot longer than any Stanley Cup parade ever will. Travis Hamonic loves his family, and this decision proves that blood is thicker than any champagne that will flow following a Stanley Cup victory.

I'll never question his dedication to his team that he's built. Ever.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The Hockey Show - Episode 407

The Hockey Show, Canada's only campus-produced radio show that strictly talks hockey, is back tonight as I continue to work my way across the Canada West Conference in talking to some amazing women who call this province home but play elsewhere! Tonight, we meet a woman who took a different path than a lot of players from this province take in getting to university where she plays hockey, but she definitely earned the opportunity with everything she's done!

Tonight, The Hockey Show welcomes Calgary Dinos forward Annaliese Meier to the show! Anna's route to playing at the University of Calgary saw her dominate the Winnipeg Women's High School Hockey League while playing for NorMan up in Thompson, Manitoba before heading east to the Ontario Hockey Academy! Her work with the these teams attracted the attention of the Dinos, and we'll hear all about her adventures playing in Manitoba before we look at her work with the Dinos, her thoughts on the short season with teams added and lost, and more! It's a fun chat with Anna Meier, so make sure you tune in 530pm CT on 101.5 FM and/or UMFM.com!

Where's the best place can you hear tonight's show if you're outside Winnipeg or not near a radio, you ask? The new UMFM website's online streaming player is pretty awesome if you want to listen online. If you're using an Apple device, the player doesn't seem to like Safari yet, but we highly recommend you use the TuneIn app found on the App Store or perhaps another browser. If you do use the TuneIn app, you won't be disappointed. It's a solid app.

If you have questions, you can email all show queries and comments to hockeyshow@umfm.com! Tweet me anytime with questions you may have by hitting me up at @TeebzHBIC on Twitter! I'm here to listen to you, so make your voice heard!

Tonight, Teebz chats with Annaliese Meier of the Calgary Dinos about growing up at the rink, exploding onto the WWHSHL scene, travelling to northern Manitoba for games, moving to Cornwall, Ontario before heading west to Calgary, everything Dinos, and much more exclusively on 101.5 UMFM and on the UMFM.com web stream!

PODCAST: July 9, 2020: Episode 407

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!