Here are the morning papers for Wednesday the 30th of July:
- Mark Parrish was “taken aback” when he found out he was placed on waivers, writes Michael Russo of the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
- As George Richards of the Miami Herald tells us, Panthers defenseman Mike Van Ryn is hoping his wrist injuries are behind him so he can just get back to playing the game he loves.
- An arbitrator awarded Predators defenseman Ville Koistinen a one-year $700,000 contract on Tuesday.
- In other news coming out of Nashville, commissioner Gary Bettman has refuted the claim that William Del Biaggio was given preferential treatment.
- In a very interesting piece, Brad Schrade of the Tennessean investigates the loans that Del Biaggio received from two other NHL owners.
- As Steve Zipay of Newsday explains, the Rangers will be racking up the frequent flyer miles right after training camp begins.
- Steve Stamkos was honored to sign his first NHL contract on Tuesday, writes Brant James of the St. Petersburg Times. As of now, Stamkos is slated to line-up between Radim Vrbata and Ryan Malone on the team’s second line.
- Allen Panzeri of the Ottawa Citizen examines the dangers of a salary arbitration case with forward Antoine Vermette. (Writer’s note: Good piece here by Panzeri. The fact is, the Senators do see Vermette as an important part of the team, so to get to a point where you are denigrating his contributions and capabilities is an avenue that really should be avoided.)
- Leafs GM Cliff Fletcher tells Lance Hornby of the Toronto Sun that Bryan McCabe’s contract isn’t “connected” to a possible Mats Sundin return. (Translation: We still want to get rid of Bryan McCabe.) Meanwhile, the Leafs are going to wait until the defensemen drafted before Luke Schenn sign their first NHL contracts prior to negotiating a contract with Schenn himself.
For Illegal Curve, I’m Richard Pollock.