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.

Several Current and Ex-Rangers Affected By KHL Plane Crash

The tragic plane crash that reportedly killed somewhere between 36 to 43 members of the KHL team Lokomotiv Yaroslavl this morning has hit everybody hard who is around the game of hockey, including several members of the New York Rangers. As Andrew Gross pointed out on Twitter, Marian Gaborik has lost two of his closest friends and former teammates within the last several months - first Derek Boogaard and now Pavol Demitra. One of Henrik Lundqvist's friends, Swedish goaltender Stefan Liv, also perished on the flight. Mike Rupp also played with ex-Ranger Karel Rachunek when they were with the Devils during Rachunek's last NHL stint before playing in Europe.

Gross has talked to several Rangers and have gotten their reactions on the crash.

Henrik Lundqvist devastated when told former Swedish national team teammate G Stefan Liv may have been on flight.

Lundqvist, told of Stefan Liv (now confirmed to be on flight), buries head in hands and says, like him, Liv was married this summer.

Mike Rupp befriended Karel Rachunek during their time with the Devils. "He was a quiet guy with a really good sense of humor."

Artem Anisimov came up with Locomotiv, says he knows about half the roster. "I feel like it can't happen. I feel sick about that."

 Andrew Gross on Twitter

More to come later today as news and reactions around hockey continue to break.

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.

Breaking News: Ex-NHL Forward Wade Belak Found Dead At Age 35

Terrible news to pass along. Wade Belak, who retired in March after being waived by the Nashville Predators, was found dead today at his Toronto home. NHL.com reported that the cause of death for Belak has not been determined, but foul play is not believed to have been involved.

Belak, 35, skated in 15 games with the Predators last season, recording 0 points, 18 PIM and a minus-1 rating before being waived by the team in February. Belak retired in March after clearing waivers, and remained with the Predators after accepting an organizational role with the team. Belak was a 14-year NHL veteran who played for the Predators, Florida Panthers, Toronto Maple Leafs, Calgary Flames and Colorado Avalanche.

Belak is the third person in the NHL to die since May, with Rick Rypien and Derek Boogaard being the other two - all three men gone way too soon.

I send my condolences out to Wade Belak's friends and family. It's truly been an awful last few months for the hockey world.

Chris Drury Retires From NHL

My apologies for not having this up sooner, but I had a personal matter to attend to this weekend. I'm sure you all have heard by now that Chris Drury officially retired from the NHL after a 12-year career on Friday. Drury, who was bought out of the final year of his contract with the Rangers earlier this offseason, clearly had hoped to continue his playing career elsewhere, but it seems as if it just wasn't meant to be. Drury retires with 615 points (255 goals, 360 assists) in 892 career regular season games.

Drury was limited to just 24 games this past season due to a combination of a twice-broken finger and knee surgery. The writing was clearly on the wall for the end of Drury's NHL career when John Tortorella said he had a chronic knee condition on breakup day after the Rangers' season ended in the playoffs against Washington.

It's a sad ending for a guy who never managed to live up to the expectations that were set for him when he agreed to a 5-year deal with the Rangers on July 1, 2007. Drury wanted to make it work in New York, but he just wasn't able to for various reasons. Part of it was the fact that his personality just didn't fit the prototypical New York Rangers captain persona, and of course the largest part was the fact that he just never put up the stats that the Rangers expected when they agreed to pay Chris Drury $7 million a season. Drury was mainly a second liner during his best years with the Rangers, and was relegated to the third and fourth lines the past several seasons when it was clear he just didn't have a place on the team anymore.

Rangers fans will likely be upset with Chris Drury for not just retiring before the Rangers bought him out. If he did that, he would've left $7 million on the table in the final year of his contract and the Rangers would've been off the hook for having to count any of his salary against the cap the way they are now. Let's be honest, though - as prideful and respected a player as Chris Drury is, very few people in the world would turn down $7 million. Drury knew this was his last big payday and he wanted to cash in. Does it hurt his image as a team-first guy? I'd say so, but I never really believed he would turn down guaranteed money just to financially help out a team that no longer wanted him. More than that, I truly believe that Drury wanted to continue his playing career and try to latch on with a team somewhere, and I guess he found out that there wasn't any real interest in him from other teams in the league.

Drury's Rangers career didn't have many (if any) bright spots that will be remembered years from now, but I still respect the guy for trying. He wanted to make it work in New York, but it wasn't meant to be. Drury will ultimately go down as another one of Glen Sather's free agency blunders despite what was overall a solid NHL career.

You can read more about my thoughts on Drury's Rangers career in a column I did back in June on NYRNation.net here.

Report: Sean Avery Won't Face Charges From Aug. 5 Arrest

Via TMZ comes word that Sean Avery will not face any charges stemming from his Aug. 5 arrest when he shoved a Los Angeles police officer. It was previously reported that Avery had a court date scheduled for Sept. 2 and could face a maximum penalty of up to a year in jail time, but it now appears that Avery will get off scot-free.

TMZ quoted "law enforcement sources" presumably involved with the case who said, "No criminal charges of any kind will be filed against Sean Avery stemming from his August 5 arrest for battery on a police officer." So there you have it.

Avery, of course, was arrested at his home in California after police responded to a complaint from one of his neighbors that the noise coming from a party Avery was throwing was too loud. You can read all about the original incident here.

The Rangers and Avery have both been completely silent about the incident and the last we heard from the Rangers was that they essentially had no comment right after the news of Avery's arrest broke. I didn't think at the time that it would lead to the team releasing Avery, and I think it only helps his case that all charges against him have been dropped. It was still an ugly incident, but the Rangers and Avery both will wind up avoiding a PR disaster by him not being charged on battery.

My guess is neither Avery, Glen Sather or John Tortorella will even acknowledge this incident when camp opens in a few weeks and all parties involved will do their best to just sweep this mess under the carpet in hopes that everybody will forget about it.