Report: Zuccarello To Sign With KHL If No NHL Teams Come Calling

It didn't take long for Rangers news to start trickling down. A day after their season ended yesterday, word leaked out on Saturday that RW Mats Zuccarello had reportedly inked a two-year deal with Metallurg Magnitogorsk of the KHL. Zucc's agent denied those rumors,though according to Katie Strang of ESPN, Zuccarello apparently will eventually sign with Metallurg Magnitogorsk if no teams offer him an NHL contract

Zuccarello will officially be an unrestricted free agent on July 1, when his two-year deal with the Rangers expires.

Zucc certainly won't get paid any more by a team in the NHL than what KHL teams are willing to pay him, so the fact that he's holding off on accepting a deal to play in the KHL tells me he really would love for an NHL team to give him another opportunity at cracking an NHL lineup somewhere. We'd heard rumblings over the past few years that Zuccarello wanted a trade or to be released from his contract so he could go back to play in Europe, though both he and Glen Sather denied those rumors on several occasions. Nevertheless, I get the impression from everything I've read that Zuccarello simply is tired of playing in the AHL, and I can't say I really blame him. He's proven he can dominate in Europe and the minors, but when it comes to the NHL his play has been very inconsistent. I definitely don't see a place for him on the Rangers going forward, and I think if he had any value to other NHL teams they would've explored trading for him last year. But teams can never have enough forward depth, so we'll see what happens.

I've never been that high on Zuccarello and have always felt like he was a long shot to make it in the NHL because of his small size. When you're a small player you have to have such good hands and puck control to make up for it, and Zucc really didn't flash much of either outside of a few times. I certainly hope he latches on with another NHL team, though, and can continue living his dream of playing in the NHL.

Report: Ex-Ranger Steve Valiquette Turned Down Offer To Play For Yaroslavl Lokomotiv

Re-Tweeted by the Connecticut Whale's official Twitter earlier today was a story from Boston.com that had an interesting blurb in it. Apparently, former Rangers goalie Steve Valiquette had an offer to play for the Lokomotiv this season, but turned them down because he only wanted to continue playing in the KHL if he was going to be guaranteed regular playing time.

Local agent Kent Hughes noted yesterday that one of his clients, ex-Rangers backup goalie Steve Valiquette, just recently turned down a contract offer to play for Yaroslavl this season. According to Hughes, Valiquette, a Canadian who now lives in Connecticut, was bought out over the summer after playing one season for CSKA (Red Army) and wasn’t eager to resume playing in the KHL without an assurance that he would be given regular playing time.

Boston.com

Valiquette, of course, was Henrik Lundqvist's last "regular" backup before the team signed Marty Biron last offseason. It certainly turned out to be a blessing in disguise that Valley turned down a deal with Yaroslavl.

I highly recommend reading the entire article, as it's really a great piece worth checking out. There's a story in the article that during the lockout when a bunch of NHL players were playing in Russia, a plane that was carrying Vinny Lecavalier, Brad Richards, Darius Kasparaitis, and Alexei Kovalev was supposed to originally be delayed for 2 to 3 hours and wound up being proclaimed ready for takeoff after only a 20 minute delay. Kasparaitis was skeptical and the players on-board demanded that Alex Kovalev fly in the cockpit since he has a pilot's license.

The more stories you hear about tragedies occurring in Russia with KHL teams, the more it makes me question why any athlete would want to play there.

Marian Gaborik Reacts To Pavol Demitra's Death, Rangers Confirm Karpovtsev's Death

Marian Gaborik took to Twitter and commented on the death of his best friend Pavel Demitra about 20 minutes ago. Before today the last time Gaborik Tweeted anything was back on April 16, 2010.

Gaborik's Tweet read:

Demo,u will always b in my heart.U were one of my best friends on and off the ice.U will be greatly missed by all of us.My condolences...

Marian Gaborik's Twitter 

Gaborik has lost two of his closest friends on and off the ice within the last several months - first Derek Boogaard and now Pavel Demitra.

Jim Cerny of NewYorkRangers.com originally said a few hours ago that Marian Gaborik left practice without meeting with the media and offering any words on the death of one of his best friends, Pavol Demitra, who died in the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl plane crash that took place this morning. Mats Zuccarello did say that Gaborik was "devastated" when news hit of Demitra's death.

Also, the New York Rangers have commented on the death of Alexander Karpovtsev, an assistant coach of the Lokomotiv who also died this morning. The Rangers, apparently, were waiting to officially confirm his death before posting anything on their website. Karpovtsev was a member of the 1994 Stanley Cup team and will always be remembered for being a part of New York Rangers history.

Breaking News: 43 People Dead in Plane Crash Carrying KHL Team

Unbelievably tragic news today this morning. A plane crashed in Russia this morning that was carrying the entire KHL team Lokomotiv Yaroslavl and killed 43 people who were on board, including ex-NHL players Pavol Demitra, Josef Vasicek, Jan Marek and Karel Rachunek (who also spent a few seasons playing with the Rangers). The team's head coach, Brad McCrimmon, and assistant coaches Igor Korolev and ex-Ranger Alexander Karpovtsev were also killed on the flight.