Originally published by NHLRumors.com
Lundqvist to have heart surgery
Henrik Lundqvist: “Last 3 weeks my focus has shifted from training camp and the upcoming season to my health and what I can and can’t do.
Scheduled for an open heart surgery now- aortic valve replacement, aortic root and ascending aortic replacement, to be more exact.
We all have our mountains to climb. Staying positive here and set on the road to recovery.”
Stuetzle’s ELC deal with the Senators
Cap Friendly: Breakdown of Tim Stuetzle’s entry-level contract with the Ottawa Senators:
$925,000 cap hit
$3,425,000 AAV
$10,275,000 total value
$832,500 Base (all 3 yrs)
$92,500 Signing Bonus (all 3 yrs)
$80,000 Minor (all 3 yrs)
$850,000 Sched ‘A’ Bonus (all 3 yrs)
$1,650,000 Sched ‘B’ Bonus (all 3 yrs)
Letestu retires
Aaron Portzline of The Athletic: After 12 seasons forward Mark Letestu has retired from hockey after not getting any contract offer that made sense.
“The tool bag … it’s had enough,” Letestu, 35, told The Athletic on Sunday. “I skated good enough. I shot the puck really well. I thought the game really well. But I got a lot of breaks along the way, too, right from the very start.
“Luck is a big part of all of it, absolutely, but I also took advantage of those opportunities and played well when I needed to. I got a lot of time out of being a short, slow guy in a fast man’s league.”
Letestu wants to still be involved in pro hockey and to remain near Columbus with his young family. He’s spoken with some organizations about a job, but budgets have been tightened during the pandemic.
Canadiens sign Perry
Montreal Canadiens: The Canadiens have signed forward Corey Perry to a one-year contract worth $750,000.
Pierre LeBrun: The Canadiens were runners-up on signing Wayne Simmonds at the start of free agency. Perry is a good pickup for some “snarl, leadership and net presence.”
Cap Friendly: “After signing Corey Perry to a 1 year/1-way contract at $750,000, we now show the #Habs with a 23-man roster and a projected salary cap of $82,616,309, which puts them $1,116,309 over the ceiling.”
Corey Perry, signed 1x$0.75M by MTL, is still a decent two-way forward but had a lot of trouble finishing his chances last season. He also – unsurprisingly – takes a lot of penalties. #GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/cIUhqeYF8p
— JFresh (@JFreshHockey) December 28, 2020
Scorey Perry joins MTL on a one-year, $750K deal (per @capfriendly)
He still creates plenty of net front chances and can block a shot. Other than that, he’s roster depth for a season that’ll take plenty of depth to get through. pic.twitter.com/Z2A29MoOOF
— Sean Tierney (@ChartingHockey) December 28, 2020
It’s concerning, though, that he’s getting to the net like he does (avg shot distance of ~24 ft is McDavid-ish) but doesn’t convert. Maybe it’s bad luck, maybe it’s skill deterioration. At his age, likely the latter. pic.twitter.com/4oisVvjHcj
— Sean Tierney (@ChartingHockey) December 28, 2020
