Here's what's going on so far on this HOT HOT Monday.
One of the least talked about UFAs out there is Vaclav (Vinny) Prospal and I get why.
Vinny is 38 and has slowed more than a few steps and truth be told he never was going to win the puck in a foot race, but what Prospal can do is let you get to the puck first, then strip the puck from you and send his winger on a breakaway as quickly as many of the best the game has ever seen. All Vinny does is produce. It's all he has EVER done. Vinny has 768 career NHL points in slightly over 1,000 NHL games yet it feels like that's not at all possible right?
His 510 Assists puts him just outside the NHL top 100 passers of all time and firmly in the top ten active assist leaders. The difference is when you look at all of the top current assist getters. With each of them you can probably name the finisher from whom he got those assists while often playing on a top line with a Championship team.
Prospal has done this an entirely different way with seven different teams and some crazy scenarios. Rarely on the top line and not a sure thing to be on the power play either...
Prospal's lack of respect is a bit self inflicted because he really doesn't look like a star player or a stat machine to watch him. It even took him 4 years in the NHL with Hershey and the Phantoms before being called up to play for the Flyers in 1997 despite enormous AHL numbers. And even then it wasn't until 1998-99 with the Ottawa Senators that a team gave him second line status and Prospal's points went nuts.
One interesting thing is both the Lightning and the Flyers moved Prospal away and then later picked him back up...a sign that there is more to his game than meets the eye. In his second stint with the '07-08 Flyers Prospal was a deadline pickup and teamed with Danny Briere. Briere's play and numbers immediately shot up and a Flyers team which had finished dead last suddenly made the playoffs and even won two rounds before losing to the Penguins in the Conference Finals.
And Prospal's numbers have stayed remarkably consistent right through last season putting up 32 points in 40 games for Columbus.
But once again Prospal appears to being taken for granted a bit and talks between the Jackets and Prospal on a new contract have fizzled. I am hearing the Islanders have serious interest and remember Garth Snow played two years in Philadelphia with Prospal as a player back in the late '90s. I don't know how many players GM Snow has brought to the Island whom he played with elsewhere....but I am sure one of you knows!
The NJ Devils and the Montreal Canadiens (where he could once again team with Briere) are the other options...
Teams to watch?
I am hearing talks have heated up nicely between the Kings and Canadiens...trying to get more details in a few hours here....
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