With the scent of labor strife hovering in the air, the closer we get to September 15th, more questions will begin to be raised. Including, if there is a work stoppage, where will Russian rookies like Yakupov and Grigorenko opt to play?
Will they return to their junior teams in Canada, or, will they opt to skate home to Russia to play for KHL teams?
Tuesday morning, via Twitter, IIHF Director of Communications, Szymon Szemberg, suggested that the #1 overall pick in this Summer's draft will play in the KHL rather than return to OHL Sarnia, in the event of a lockout.
Szemberg weeted:
"Nail Yakupov's agent Igor Larionov says that, in case of a lockout, Yakupov will play for Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk, not return to Sarnia".
One wonders if Sabres first rounder Mikhail Grigorenko would follow suit and head back to Russia to play in the KHL, or, if he would rteun to play a second season with Patrick Roy's Quebec Remparts.
International ice hockey legend and Hall of famer, Igor Larionov, is the agent for Yakupov. Igor says that Yakupov is happy to be skating in Edmonton right now at Perry Pearn's 3-v-3 tourney.
Yakupov is currently looking for a house in the Edmonton area. His mother,father, younger sister and family dog will be living with Nail once the season begins. IF the season begins.
While you and your buds have been hammering down brat and dogs, and swilling copious amounts of draft beer at Mickey Rat's beach bar, Cody Hodgson has been investing hundreds of hours in his continued health and well being. CoHo has been hanging and banging with Scary Gary Roberts inside of Gary Roberts High Performance Training in Toronto.
My friends, Kevin Snow, Brian Duff and the camera crew from sabres,com spent the day, and caught a fly-on-the-wall glimpse of a usual sweltering August day with CoHo and Roberts inside the dojo, While most NHLers are fishing and jet skiing up in the Muskokas and remodeling their plush castles in Bobcaygeon, Hodgson has been hard at work, living, breathing, and sweating the Scary Gary lifestyle. There's a simple reason why Darcy Regier traded Zack Kassian and Marc Andre Gragnani to the Canucks for Hodgson and Alex Sulzer. Hodgson is a winner. He wants to be the best that he can be. He's not satisfied with resting on the laurels that he created for himself as a scoring machine in the OHL. Hodgson wants to win a Stanley Cup, or two. he's committed and motivated. These days, he's physically and mentally engaged in the process.
thanks, sabres.com
There's a lot to love about the way that Hodgson has been killing it in the gym this Summer. For the uninitiated, Hodgson is not a newbie to the structure and discipline of the Gary Roberts training regimine. Roberts a mentor and a "big brother" to Hodgson ever since the former Brampton Battalion star injured himself during an off season training session in his first pro training camp in Vancouver. Hodgson and Roberts found one another at a moment in time that the kid was at a virtual career crossroads. Hodgson wanted to crack into the Canucks starting lineup in his rookie season. He wanted to impress then coach Alain Vigneault and his ofrmer GM Mike Gillis. The odds were long against CoHo making the opening night roster. Beating out the Sedin and Kesler was not in his cards. The kid just wanted to make a lasting impression.
That he did.
To know Gary Roberts is to know that he didn't back down from any opponent in his 21 seasons in the NHL. Roberts could kill you with his silky mitts, or, his gnarled up fists. Pick your poison, He was a warrior on the ice and a gentleman off the ice. These days, he makes his home in suburban Toronto, where he runs the premiere destination for weight training, nutrition, and healthy living. Roberts opens his doors to his facility for hockey players from every walk of life. He focuses on training and teaching good lifestyle habits to NHLers, like Hodgson, James Neal and Steven Stamkos, to name a few. He also works with the elite prospects who wish to achieve their dreams of making it to the NHL.
On May, John Vogl of the Buffalo News interviewed Gary Roberts to get his reaction to the criticism that Vancouver Canucks GM, Mike Gillis, had directed at Hodgson during the Canucks season-ending presser. Personally, I found Gillis' remarks to be arrogant and desperate. Get over it, Mike. Name me another NHL GM who stoops to this level of putting the boots to the young kid and his reputation, long after the player was traded away to Buffalo.
Said Gillis:
"I spent more time on Cody's issues than every other player combined on our team the last three years," Gillis said.
Classy move, piling on a 22 year old kid.
Gillis raised eyebrows from the Pacific to the banks of Lakes Erie and Ontario when he fired this salvo at Hodgson, his former first round draft choice.
thanks, canucks.com
Like a good team mate, Gary Roberts stepped into the scrum and stook up for his friend Hodgson. Like he had done hundreds of times before during his stellar career, in the heat of the battle, Roberts took a stand for a friend.
Roberts told the Buffalo News:
"For me, I'd like to be the guy that looks at Mike Gillis and says, 'You're a moron.' It doesn't really do anybody any good other than the fact that Mike Gillis looks like, as they say on TSN, a dud."
Roberts' comments resonated across the Twittersphere and the terrestrial media world on the Monday after the Buffalo News story had run.
Hodgson fans from coast to coast, and all points in between, agreed with Roberts' take that Gillis was just airing his dirty laundry in public.
Later, after the tire fire had smoldered, Roberts offered this mea culpa to Gillis via TSN:
"I obviously didn't choose the right words. I don't have anything personally against Mike Gillis or the Vancouver Canucks," Roberts said Tuesday. "It was a little unjustified for me to go that far and I apologize for that word I used.
"But in Cody's defence, I've been with this player for three years, I see his commitment, dedication, the type of person he is, the way he treats people. I see how hard he's worked through a very tough time early in his career and I just felt very strongly that I had to take a stand for this young man."
Roberts knows Hodgson. He knows the Hodgson family. He knows the kid's character and his level of dedication. The two are close with one another. Roberts was just sticking up for the kid as he was getting face washed in the court of public opinion. I agree with Roberts. It was easy for Gillis to lambaste CoHo long after he had left VanCity in the trade that saw the Sabres send Zack Kassian and Marc Andre Gragnani to the Canucks in exchange for Hodgson and Alex Sulzer.
We need more guys of high character and unwavering integrity like Gary Roberts in the NHL today. Roberts is a great life coach and a tremendously important mentor to NHLers like Hodgson. He teaches them how to live like a pro.
Fast forward to the 2:20 mark to hear CoHo's appreciation and respect for Roberts first hand.
thanks, sabres.com
I'm an unabashed Hodgson supporter. Have been since I saw him play in Brampton. The Sabres are looking for a top line centre. That player may already be on the Sabres roster. His name is Cody Hodgson. He was brought to Buffalo to be a difference maker. He'll get every opportunity to do so this season, whenever it will officially begin.
Hodgson has a lot to prove in this upcoming training camp. Maybe he's the #1 centre that Darcy Regier has been looking for.
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