With the season just around the corner, there is plenty of buzz surrounding many teams in the league, not just the Capitals. A few of teams who have been in the news this week are the Penguins, the Flyers, the Lightening, the Stars, and the Red Wings.
The Pittsburgh Penguins made news this week by placing a $750 million price tag to purchase their franchise. According to The Hockey News this figure seems a bit high, even if the team did turn a modest profit of approximately $11 million to $15 million profit last year. While the team does have a lot of talent, no one seems to be interested in purchasing the team. In fact, there have not been any serious offers to purchase the team. Some fans in Philly have started a GoFundMe campaign to purchase the Penguins.
Again, no serious offers have been tendered to the Penguins at this point, however; as time goes on it will be interesting to see how this plays out in the Steel City.
Speaking of Philadelphia, the Flyers’ Jakub Voracek announced earlier this week that he will be donating $1,000 with every point he scores to research for Multiple Sclerosis. His sister, Petra was diagnosed this offseason with the disease. It is Voracek’s intention to raise more awareness to the disease, and hopefully can have more people donate to this cause as well. While Voracek may play for the Flyers, it does show that some of these guys do have a heart.
Another player whose heart gained him attention from those who followed his story was Rich Peverley. As you may recall, he was the player who collapsed on the Dallas Stars’ bench, was declared dead for a moment, and was resuscitated. He worked hard all of last season and this off-season to get into shape to play again this year, however; doctors are saying because of the arrhythmia (irregular heartbeat), it is not optimal for him to play again, and could possibly run the risk of having another heart attack. Because of this, Rich has decided to retire. The Stars have offered him a position within their organization, which will allow him to work as a player development coordinator.
Finally, in this week’s round up, the Detroit Red Wings. Former Capital Mike Green took to the ice on Friday with his new team. Green spent 10 seasons with the Capitals before signing a 3 year, $18 million contract with the Motor City. He has stated that while it was hard for him to leave Washington, he is happy to start a new chapter with Detroit this year. “[I spent] a long time in Washington but moving forward here, I’m extremely excited to be a part of this group…” he stated.
That has been this week’s league round-up. More to come as the weeks leading up to the regular season are going by quickly.
By Andrea Sobolik
