If Vadim Shipachyov wants to rebuild his NHL value, the best thing for him to do is play. Play anywhere, Las Vegas, Chicago, the moon.
Somewhere short of the moon, it looks like Shipachyov wants nothing to do with the NHL right now and is Russia-bound:
Expectation is that if Shipachyov isn’t traded by as early as tomorrow, contract termination/a return to Russia could happen in short order. https://t.co/emLBWAqHNA
— Eric Engels (@EricEngels) October 29, 2017
It's hard to imagine another NHL team trading for Shipachyov at this point, considering his lucrative two-year contract, questions about his practice habits, and, shall we say, lack of cooperation with his most recent demotion.
George McPhee, of course, has the right to keep Shipachyov suspended, under contract, and in the Golden Knights organization, but nobody wins in that scenario. If Shipachyov won't play in Chicago and Gerard Gallant has no use for him in Vegas, you're stuck with an essentially worthless asset.
So fasten your seatbelts -- after all, "Where's Vadim?" has been a soap opera if anything -- but my guess is that the Golden Knights cut short this ride sooner than later.
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Besides Shipachyov, it was a news-packed day on a Vegas off day:
Latest from VGK: Shippy suspended w/out pay after leaving Wolves 4 Vegas w/out OK; Garrison clears waivers, goes to Wolves; Reinhart waived
— Steve Carp (@stevecarprj) October 29, 2017
With Garrison clearing waivers and G Reinhart on waivers, expectation is VGK will later today recall D Shea Theodore from CHI (AHL)
— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) October 29, 2017
The Golden Knights will take on the Islanders in Brooklyn tomorrow.
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Before taking off for the east, Vegas celebrated Halloween in style:
Halloween isn’t for another six days, but Golden Knights players already have the holiday spirit.
— Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) October 26, 2017
🎃🎃🎃 pic.twitter.com/4rom3QaZNy
Then, on October 26th, Malcolm Subban, Alex Tuch, Reid Duke, Nate Schmidt and Cody Eakin handed out candy at the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department's Trunk or Treat event. I caught up with Subban and Duke, getting injury updates. But more importantly, I found out Subban's favorite Halloween costume as a kid and learned about Tuch's hatred of Almond Joys.
(HockeyBuzz note: While I didn't talk to the volunteers in a group format, I'm presenting this conversation as such, just because I asked them pretty much the same questions.)
HockeyBuzz: So how are your injuries coming along?
Reid Duke: Shoulder's coming along. It's a long process, but I have a lot of good people taking care of me. It's going well so far.
Malcolm Subban: It's going good.
HB: Let's get to the good stuff. What's the best or funniest costume you've ever seen at a team Halloween party?
RD: Oh, we had some really good ones [at our Halloween party]. I think the best costume had to have been James Neal as Pennywise. [The best costume I've seen in my career,] I would still have to go with Pennywise.
MS: That's tough. There have been a lot of good costumes. But we had some pretty good ones this year. I think Flower dressing up in all green paint. That was pretty funny. Neal, Pennywise too.
Alex Tuch: There's been a lot of good ones. My buddy Ian McCoshen who plays for the Panthers had a giant Minion costume. Cool thing about that was his younger sister got the same exact costume.
HB: What was your favorite costume to wear when you were a kid?
RD: Oh, I had a couple good costumes. I liked going as Scream. Did that a couple times.
It's nice to come out and do this with the kids. We were all there once. We're enjoying ourselves right now.
MS: Ooh, that's tough. I had a Green Goblin kind of thing. A really scary mask. I really loved it.
AT: That's a hard one. That's really hard. I can't even remember half of them. In college, I was Steve the Pirate from Average Joe's [from "Dodgeball"]. That was funny. I've been a gorilla. All sorts of sports stuff.
HB: Was that what Nate was wearing at the Halloween party? He was a pirate.
AT: No, Nate was "Star Wars."
HB: He looked more like a pirate.
AT: Yeah, probably.
HB: What was your favorite candy to get as a kid? Your least favorite?
RD: The best part of Halloween was the houses which would give out the full candy bars. The big Kit-Kat, Mars bars, whatever.
Sometimes, you would get that one house which would give you an apple or fruit. You never appreciate that.
I miss trick-or-treating. If I could still do it, I would.
MS: My favorite candy to get was Reese's Pieces. My least favorite was, 1000%, Twizzlers.
AT: Favorite candy was Reese's Cups. Least favorite candy was Almond Joy.
MS: Did...you...say...Almond Joy?
AT: It's the worst. The worst.
MS: Yeah!
AT: It's the worst of all time, Almond Joy.
HB: What's your go-to candy now?
MS: Broccoli.
HB: Name your favorite horror movie of all time.
RD: I try to stay away from them. But I liked the "Scream" movies. The "Halloween" movies. I appreciate a good, scary movie. But tough to sleep sometimes at night. (laughs)
MS: Ooh. I don't mind them. "Sinister" was pretty good. "Sinister" and "The Conjuring."
AT: I hate horror movies.
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