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While you were watching the World Cup final between Germany and Argentina, Buffalo Sabres GM Tim Murray signed UFA forward Zac Dalpe to a one-year contract. Dalpe played last season in Vancouver.
Financial terms have not been disclosed.
Dalpe was 45th overall pick by the Carolina Hurricanes in 2008. He's played in 96 NHL games. He played 55 games in Vancouver last season.
The 6-foot-1, 195-pound Paris, Ontario native spent the majority of the past four seasons in the AHL, where he earned all-rookie honors with the Charlotte Checkers in 2011. He has 142 points (68 goals, 74 assists) and 52 penalty minutes in 186 regular-season AHL games, and 19 points (9G, 10A) in 29 postseason games.
Dalpe will have to leap frog veterans Patrick Kaleta, Cody McCormick, Torrey Mitchell, and Brian Flynn.
If he can't crack the Buffalo fourth line, Dalpe willl prove to be a useful player in Rochester. I'm guessing that if Dalpe performs well in training camp, that he will make the Buffalo roster which would likely send Brian Flynn packing for Rochester.
The Sabres still have to decide whether they will re-sign UFA forwards Zenon Konopka and Matt D'Agostini.
In May, Konopka was suspended for 20 games for violating the terms of the NHL/NHLPA Performance Enhancing Substances Program.
Under the terms of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, the suspension is accompanied by mandatory referral to the NHL/NHLPA Program for Substance Abuse and Behavioral Health for evaluation and possible treatment.
Konopka's contract expired at the conclusion of the 2013-14 season. The term of the suspension will be served at the beginning of any new contract that he will sign either in Buffalo or elsewhere.
Murray now has to decide whether he will be retaining UFAs Konopka and D'Agostini.
— SabresBuzz (@SabresBuzz) July 13, 2014
***
This. Is. Awesome.
A Cup winner and his two best friends enjoy the Breakfast of Champions. Together.
This is how @AnzeKopitar starts his day with the Cup.
KOPITAR'S DAY: http://t.co/iELRbNdj2D pic.twitter.com/hkmKBbQtFb
— LA Kings (@LAKings) July 13, 2014
Breakfast of Champions Kopitar & gustl eat out of their #stanleycup @HockeyHallFame @NHL @lakingspr @AnzeKopitar pic.twitter.com/5mVxIlvCEU
— Philip Pritchard (@keeperofthecup) July 13, 2014______________________________________________________________________
In 2013, Jonathon Drouin, Nathan MacKinnon, Zac Fucale and the Halifax Mooseheads dominated junior hockey. That special team won the Memorial Cup that season. NHL Central Scouting aptly rated Drouin in their top three draft eligible prospects. The Bolts drafted him third overall behin Nathan MacKinnon and Sasha Barkov.
Drouin played well in his first ever pro development camp. He turned heads and impressed Steve Yzerman and the Bolts' brass with impressive performances during the exhibition season. On September 29, four days before the start of the 2014-15 NHL season, Drouin was demoted back to Halifax. "I'm more mature as a person. I think I grew a little bit being one of the older guys on the [junior] team, seeing things you didn't see when you were 16 or 17," Drouin said from Lightning prospect camp. "A lot of things were tough for me. It helped me grow as a person. Not winning was the toughest thing."
Drouin told the Bolts' website last week that he learned about himself after he was shipped back to The Q.
"I think I'm over [being sent back]. I don't want to think about it too much. In the end, it was their decision to send me back to juniors for another year," Drouin said. "Obviously you want to prove them wrong, but as the year went on I think I was playing more for the Moosheads than anything else. You forget about being cut and you move on a little bit. It was a big deal, but I'm only 19 years old. I have many years in front of me to try to make the club."
Thanks, Bolts TV
Drouin wont be handed a roster spot this season. He's going to have to earn one. He's a left winger, and the Bolts have serious depth at that position with Val Filppula, Andrej Palat, the recently acquired Brenden Morrow and impressive rookie Adam Erne.
Drouin's buddy MacKinnon experienced success in his rookie season. He earned NHL Rookie Of The Year honors.
Drouin wants what MacKinnon is having.
"We're buddies, so we text quite often. We don't really talk much about hockey. We get hockey 24/7 already, so we're happy to change the subject," Drouin said. "It was more stuff off the ice, like what Colorado is like and what's going on in Halifax with the new players."
MacKinnon won the Calder Trophy as the NHL rookie of the year, adding another item to Drouin's list for the foreseeable future.
"It's one of my goals to win the Calder one day. But I also want to go far in the playoffs, which is an even better feeling," he said
Drouin wants what MacKinnon is having in terms of NHL success in his rookie season of playing the most competitive brand of hockey in the best league in the world. Drouin will do everything in his power to earn a roster spot in Tampa this season.